The Altruistic Futurist
by FsDxRAGE
Summary: As Shepard approaches the Crucible, his story is rewritten as his companion, Garrus, and love interest, Tali, intervene, bringing closure to his story over the coming chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Altruistic Futurist **_

_This is insane._

Tali clasped her shotgun, the same weapon she has been wielding for years-fighting with everything she had. Each one of those mass accelerated particles that spit out of the barrel encased in tongues of flame-landing in her foes-was for a cause that towered over her; a cause that made her feel like a mote of vapor-the finest particle of dew in a galactic ocean. Thinking about the Reapers and the war rocked her very thoughts and understanding about everything she ever knew. She remembers laying in bed at night, thinking about the definition of _infinity_. How does _something _never end? How does one put it into context and understand it fully? This war was almost as big as that definition, yet it _has_ a limit. There is a limit to everything, Shepard is the brick wall these machines of destruction have to tear through. Even if they do tear through him, they have to kick down every last standing brick-the different species supporting him-and scrape off every single lip of mortar that held that brick wall together-his companions. Tali stared at her shotgun. The heft proved she was not gone-had not lost hope and was still a living, breathing, fighting force. She wiped off blood that freckled the ceramic from the waves of Reapers Shepard, Garrus, and her cleaved their way through. The sky was darkening, but a great white eye stared back at her which burnt into the clouds. The smell of death was overwhelming yet it gave her something to fight for.

"Tali, are you ready for this?"

Anderson's hand lightly touched her shoulder. His smile was genuine, igniting yet another flame of hope in the deepest recesses of her body.

"Just catching a breath. We... we just survived overwhelming odds back there defending those damn missiles."

"Strategically, you just made all of Hammer stand up after a one-two punch by that damn Reaper. Round two is just beginning."

"Yeah, well," Tali licked her lips and slurped more air in. It tasted sour and burnt. "That is the fifth one Shepard has killed and my fourth that I have seen go down."

"I think you all are pissing them off."

"Good."

Both of them stared at the sky at the beam of light that burnt into the anthracite clouds. Tali laughed at the shouldering Reaper splayed out in front of them-it looked like a dead cockroach sprawled on its back in the center of a burnt piece of toast smeared with death-marmalade.

"So... you and Shepard?" Anderson asked, hefting a rifle over his shoulder.

"Yes. It's been a while now, actually."

"He told me back on Earth all those months ago. I am happy for you two. You know, I have always liked you, Tali."

"Why thanks," she said sarcastically.

"No, seriously."

"Is it because I got you evidence against Saren?"

"No jokes now, I think I broke a rib. Laughing is going to be that last thing that takes me out of this fight," he chuckled, voice rough as sandpaper. She could tell he was thirsty and had been yelling all this time. His voice reminded Tali of her hand-to-hand combat specialist before hitting her pilgrimage.

"Hey you two. Enjoying the view without me, are you?" Garrus approached from behind and sat on a fallen concrete pillar in the parking garage overlooking the teleportation devise of some sort before the final assault. "Damn good shooting, Tali."

"I saw you struggling to keep up with me, Garrus," she quipped.

"I know for a fact my kill count is higher than yours."

"Do you want to bet?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure. Once we get back to the Normandy, we will look over our footage and count each kill. Whoever wins gets the rest of my dextro-chocolate."

"You have more?" Tali asked, spinning to look at him.

"I... lied about eating it all."

"I've only ever had chocolate once in my life."

"I hope to keep it that way," said Garrus, leaning his head against his rifle.

"Do you always have to one-up me?"

"I am like your big brother, so yeah. It is my duty." He lightly punched her in the arm. "Also, I could hear you two a couple of hours ago."

"Huh?"

"You know..."

Tali's face went ablaze. Anderson smirked and kicked a rock with his half melted boot.

"He had reach-" Tali started.

"You had flexibility," Garrus finished.

"I really hope we make it through this," said Tali peering out at the clouds.

"Yeah, me too." Garrus leaned forward to see Anderson on the other side of Tali. "That goes for you, Boss."

"I've been waiting for this assault for months," said Anderson.

A voice from behind the three of them detonated.

_Shepard._

"The Reapers have pulled back their forces."

Shepard sat down heavily next to the trio, cradling his rifle with the utmost care-it was the tool that chiseled his legacy into the pages of the Milky Way. Tali peered at her shotgun. The barrel smoked and the Reaper's burnt blood speckled it and the dried lips where the heat sink pops out of the firearm.

"Do you know why, Shepard?" asked Anderson.

"Winding up that haymaker to start off round two with a bang," finished Tali. Shepard gave Tali an awkward look. "Hey, blame Zaeed. He introduced me to krogan boxing vids." She bit her lower lip. "It is a guilty pleasure of mine..."

Garrus gave Anderson a nod. Tali purposely ignored the notion while both Garrus and Anderson got up from the concrete pillar leaving Tali and Shepard sitting there alone.

"Be ready for anything, Shepard."

"I got it, Anderson."

Both sat on the column for a minute, not speaking. Staccato gunfire prickled Tali's ears and she could hear the cry of wounded men and women. The sound was horrific beyond belief. Her right hand wouldn't stop trembling. She purposely fasted for a day, hoping that if she got shot in the torso she wouldn't bleed out due to use of blood for digestion.

"So this is the end," Shepard said.

"Not yet, Shepard. We still have a little bit to go. Whatever happens, I will be by your side." Tali gripped Shepard's armored hand, squeezing it reassuringly. They already said their goodbyes and Tali didn't want to go through it again. Her heart is already sore as it is. This very well could be the last time they see each other.

_Keelah, I pray for luck, nothing else. _

"Tali?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"I know."

It took her a second to process his delayed comment.

"My god."

"What?"

Shepard stood up and stared into the distance, dropping his rifle. Tali's eyes traced his outline then followed his line of sight past the mysterious teleporting device.

"Shepard!"

Garrus and Anderson sprinted from behind and stared with awe at the sight unfold like an origami cube creased with destruction.

"That is Harbinger, isn't it?" asked Shepard.

"Reports have said it is him, or it. Whatever you call that thing!" Anderson's mouth dropped and Tali could see him shaking. Beyond the spire of light, Harbinger had wrapped its arms around a turian cruiser and were wreathed in flame from entering the atmosphere at high speeds. Tali staggered back, stunned at his size-bigger than a Sovereign class Reaper. Harbinger _impacted _the ground and the cruiser detonated in a blue flash. Tali stood in awe, waiting to hear the _bang_ and feel the concussion of the near nuclear explosion _tear _the air from her lungs.

"That explosion and impact might have killed that thing," Anderson said, right as the dust popped from the ground and the concussion pushed them all back. Spittle flung from Tali's mouth as she went reeling backwards. She wheezed for air and searched the ground for her shotgun. Her breath was lost-seized by Harbinger.

"She-Shepard," she coughed getting a hold of her weapon.

"Right here!"

An arm pulled Tali to her feet. The sound of the explosion arced through the air with power not even Tali realized existed. The mere sound of the _bang _scared her. Through her helmet which was linked to the com-channel, Admiral Hackett's voice chirped to life.

"Shepard, we are taking heavy casualties. What is your status on getting to the Crucible?" Tali could hear his ship moaning in pain through her headset. It was the eerie sound of whales crying for help-these big majestic creatures being torn apart by predators.

"We are on the move now," he shouted.

Tali, for the first time since they landed on Earth and were fighting to take it back, she saw the creases in his face knit the look of concern and fear. Keelah, she was scared, too. All of the men from the rear moved forwards, rifles at the ready. It was a black phalanx of men ready to die for a small chance to live. Tali looked into their faces-the faces of men and women whose families have been vaporized, lives destroyed through a crusade of fire, and have been fighting against odds all of them knew were unsurpassable. Harbinger's fog horn rippled through the air and Tali could feel the reverberations in her chest. Something from Harbinger had touched her and she still stood. It could be beaten.

"Shepard," she yelled over the horn.

"We've got this, Tali. Garrus, Anderson, are you ready?"

"We have your six," said Garrus, his voice hesitant while looking across the field leading towards the tower of light. Tali felt like throwing up and clenched her teeth ready for the final assault.

"Hackett reporting in, Shepard, you need to get to that damn beacon, we are getting chewed up out here!"

This was it. This very moment is what was going to change the outcome of the war and of the trillions of lives at stake. Shepard stood at the ready, muscles in his neck bulging and veins pulsating under his skin. He was nervous as hell, Tali could see it.

"You three... Tali, stay close!"

Tali's head snapped to where Shepard last stood and saw him running down the slope towards the light. His silhouette dappled the beams light as he ran towards it.

_Keelah, this is it, isn't it?_

Without thinking, Tali followed in his wake. Fear left her as she knew Death was staring her in the face somewhere in the shadows. If it comes to her, let it be-right now though, nothing was going to stop her from losing Shepard. All of the adrenaline her glands could muster was dumped into her veins as her foot landed in the boot prints of her Captain. A unison chant from the men and women of all races behind her discharged-it was louder than Harbinger's horn. Suddenly, the Reaper's voice came through in deep gurgles.

"_Shepard,_ _your time has come._" It bellowed. "_The taking back the quarian home world proved nothing. Tali'Zorah will parish in a cloud of dust. Garrus Vakarian, there is no need to follow your commander. The counterattack at Palaven was a mere prick compared to the bullet wound our forces have given you. You are an insignificant virus facing incomprehensive annihilation. Your numbers are but a mote of dust carried by the galactic winds beyond your own organic, limited comprehension._"

Tali pushed harder and saw a molten red glow materialize through Harbinger's cowl of black, toxic smoke. It was about to fire a precisely aim shot at the lot of them. She was ready to die for this cause her life has been devoted towards.

"_Your love of the quarian has no meaning. It is merely a mistake in your organic coding-infinitesimal sparks of electricity through your elementary processing system. You will soon be hollow of this meaningless devotion towards Tali'Zorah-of whom is part of a race which have created the beginning of your end. You will be a husk void of emotion. We will grind you into the earth._"

Tali closed her eyes as everything went red and blistering heat pushed through her suit. She screamed and lost footing, sliding into the muddied earth face first. The ringing in her ears were unlike anything she has ever heard in her whole years of living. The blast was immense.

_Pain. That means you are alive. Get up!_

Scrapping off her visor, Tali used the stock of her shotgun to heave herself to both feet. Blistered bodies scattered around her. Tali thought she woke up in a mannequin warehouse where everyone just dumps broken, shattered avatars of people, but she was wrong. These were the scattered remains of human, asari, turian, and krogan. A sickening feeling swirled and coalesced into bestial rage in seeing the destruction of Harbinger's weapon. The ringing in her hears swallowed the screams of dismembered, swollen people.

"You missed me you bosh'tet! Is that all you have?"

An hand wrapped around Tali's left arm. It was Garrus.

"Don't piss it off anymore!" he yelled over Harbinger's horn.

"I can't _wait _to drop a thirty kiloton payload right into its _shtupid_ mouth!"

"Get to the damn beam you two!" Shepard came from the light, an inky mass materializing from nowhere. Maybe he was Death, coming to take her. "Half way there!" he yelled, leaping over the tangled mass.

Tali could see his face had been peppered by gravel, maybe even fragments of bone.

"_Your resistance is pointless and trivial._"

Harbinger this time emerged from the smoke and the sight of its yellow eyes gave Tali even more reason to run for her damn life. They colored the smoke a sickly sulfuric yellow, then its weapons charged up yet again painting the ground in the distance and the particles clinging to the thick wet air a volcanic red.

"It is scared, Shepard. It doesn't want us to go into the light!"

"I know Tali, which is why we need to move!"

"_The trees will be dusted with the ashes of your friends, Shepard. You fear this-losing your companions is what hurts the most. Tali'Zorah, we will aim for you next if Shepard does not seize the attack."_

"Give me your best shot!"

To Tali's utter shock, it responded to her remark.

"_As you wish. Your death shall not be significant but to a very few. Nothing about your disintegration will merely shift the well lubricated cogs that run the galaxy oiled by your blood. It will affect the one you love the most-the one you fight for, Tali'Zorah. Defeat is imminent, both emotional and physical. The memories organics hold of you shall parish like the civilizations of old-without a trace of a whisper hanging in the vast galactic dark._"

"I told you that you would piss it off," screamed Garrus.

"Keelah!"

"Tali, Garrus, _run!"_

Garrus followed the direct order and Tali trailed in his wake, her big brother leaving her behind.

"Garrus!" she cried out, stretching an arm out for the turian silhouette in the distance. Her legs burned with acid and the faces around her were desperate-ghosts of faces, knowing Death was going to slit their throats as that red beam of light accelerated towards them.

"Tali, grab my hand!"

Garrus, stood at the lip of the beam, hand outstretched for Tali to reach. Her hand slipped into his and turning around, Tali noticed Anderson falling into the beam. It crackled and he disappeared.

"Shepard," Tali pleaded, yelling into the mass of faces sprinting towards them. She spotted him in the thick crowd of hundreds, climbing through swaths of bodies. The white light of the beam behind them lit all their faces up. They _all _looked like ghosts. A red beam landed in the mass of the group and the pale skin of the humans and aliens were painted in red light-all baptized by the mechanized superheated tongues of flame. It engulfed the entirety of them.

_"Shepard!" _

The blast ripped through Tali and Garrus' bodies, throwing them into the beam of light.

_Air caressing skin. Gulls singing tunes to the setting sun over an ocean of water._

_ Waves swell at the ankles._

_ Tide pulls sand from under the feet._

_ She sinks deeper._

All breath was torn from her lungs as Tali impacted a hard surface. Metal, by the feel of it. Something soft also partly cushioned the blow, but what was it?

_Who is groping me? Only Shepard is allowed to do that._

_ Shepard..._

"Shepard?" she screamed as her senses came to.

"Nope, not Shepard. You're stuck with good old Garrus, which is even better."

Tali's eyes fired open. A deep red light palled the walls and floor, both were marred with stains of red blood.

"Am... I alive?" asked Tali.

"Unless I am an angel, then no."

Tali, still dazed, jokingly said, "Archangel." She poked Garrus on the nose.

"Come on, get up out of that pile." His powerful arm pulled her to her feet. He was stronger than she realized he was.

"Pile of what?"

Her stupor was slapped away when she realized she stood on top of a mound of people, all of whom were dead.

"Keelah."

"I think we found our way into the wrong end of whatever is after death," Garrus said. "Do you have a weapon?"

Tali looked to her hands and found nothing but singed and bubbling armor of which still glowed pink from the heat of the blas-

"Shepard, where is he?"

"I don't know."

"He was in the center of the blast, wasn't he?" Tali asked, hoping for a positive answer. Tali stared into her turian friend's face, remember this _is _Garrus she is asking. The answer will be brutally honest.

"To tell you the truth, it looked like... the beam hit him."

There was no shock, anger, or surprise-just angst.

"He made it."

"I-"

"_He made it._"

Garrus decided it was better not to argue. He wanted to believe it too, _did _believe it.

"Where is everyone else, then? Shouldn't Anderson be here and everyone else?"

"Yeah, they should." Tali looked around. "Shepard, Anderson!"

"_Shhhhhh, quiet!_"

"Sorry." Tali weaved around the bodies, walking towards the dot of light at the end of the vast tunnel. The sheer amount of bodies that laced the floor was sickening, yet Tali had become numb. There was an objective that had be completed at all costs. Shepard, wherever he was, knew this too.

"This is Tali'Zorah, anyone copy, over?" Static tap-danced back into her ear.

"I have nothing on my radio, either," said Garrus.

"Keelah, this isn't good."

"We need to fire the Catalyst and get the hell out of here. If the Commander is alive, he will be at the Catalyst. Now, we just need to figure out where we are."

"You mean you do not recognize where we are?" Tali asked Garrus.

"Not in the slightest."

"Didn't you work here for years, though?"

"I know this place inside and out. I have _never _been here, in this graveyard."

"Maybe secret Keeper tunnels?"

"Has to be." Garrus glowered at the death around him. "Let's get out of here and fast. We are going to need luck on our side as of this very moment."

"Are you always so optimistic, Garrus."

Through the hissing static, Tali heard a voice.

"Garrus?"

"Yeah, I got that. Commander, come in!"

"Shepard, can you hear us? Shepard? Please... _please answer._"

Tali could hear Anderson speak.

"Keelah, at least he made it through."

Then, Shepard spoke. His voice sounded hurt, wounded.

"_Shepard!_"

"Keep it down, Tali," Garrus spat. "We know he is alive, that is a good thing. We are just separated-"

"With no radio contact. We have to move, _now_."

Tali listened to Anderson and Shepard speak-wondering how badly wounded they were. There was going to be no way she was going to lose Shepard in this forsaken crucible of mechanized death. The way the Reapers handled the humans were horrific.

"I wonder how bad the protheans had it after hundreds of years," asked Garrus.

"I don't even want to _theenk_ about it."

Tali could feel her right ankle was sprained and her suit had to have a puncture in it after the beating they just took. Her heads-up-display read nothing but she knew that even _her _suit couldn't hold up after that. Time was ticking towards her death and the annihilation of everyone in the galaxy.

"Damn it, I know where we are," said Garrus.

"You don't sound too happy."

"Look ahead."

Tali followed his command and saw the Presidium miles off in the distance.

"Are we... on the tip of the Citadel?"

"That we are. I can see my old apartment building from here-or, what used to be it. I hated that place anyways."

"Wait, hold on." Tali held up her hand and both of them listened to the radio chatter. Shepard said something about the Illusive Man.

"That can't be."

"Shhh, listen Garrus!"

In the background, Tali could hear the Cerberus leader's voice.

"That bosh'tet!"

"Tali, we have to get over there now."

"You don't think I know that?" she screamed. "But _how_?"

"There is a maglev train about half a mile down that way."

Tali scanned the Citadel. Unlike the last time it was closed during Sovereign's attack, the city was not ablaze in orange, but was dark, lit only by the fires of Earth. It was an apocalyptic red where the ring of the Presidium gapped, allowing the blood of Earth to swell into the Citadel, illuminating it only slightly. This city excreted death.

"Is that the only way?"

"That I can think of, yes."

She looked around, desperately searching for something that might help. Dead bodies, shattered pieces of buildings, clothing, garbage, and blood.

"If we walk down there unarmed, we will be killed by Reaper troops," she said.

Shepard sounded as if he was in pain through the radio. His words were mumbled, but it sounded like he was trying to talk the Illusive Man out of something.

"We have got to go now! He won't make it, Garrus!"

"The only thing we have to do is try and get to that train."

Tali growled in frustration ran towards the street followed by Garrus. There was going to be no way of making up there in time. Whatever the Illusive Man was doing to _her _Shepard didn't sound good. Shepard for once was not in control of a situation he did not want to be in.

"How many people did they take into the Citadel. It looks like thousands."

Tali ignored Garrus. The fact of seeing all of these people, children and women, decimated and laying naked, pooled in blood, was heartbreaking-soul crushing.

"Tali, why don't we just stay here. Shepard doesn't need our help," said Garrus, stopping from full sprint.

"Stop joking, Garrus. Move, now!"

"No, really. Let's take a break."

Tali turned around and saw Garrus sit on the blood spattered ground. Behind Garrus, a broken holographic advertisement selling fishcakes sitting inside of a restaurant flashed.

Husks filled the restaurants.

They all turned to stare.

"Garrus, move!"

"Let them take me, I am tired."

"_Wha?_ Get up!"

Tali kicked Garrus in the side, then again-harder.

"Leave me."

"No! Are you crazy?"

Tali looked to the husks. She could see the spinning blue gears in their throats and rice paper thin skin peeling at the corners of their mouths as they opened to scream. Those poor people are now out to kill the ones so save them from further pain.

"Garrus, you are coming with me. I will drag you to this train if I have to."

"Don't... fight, no. Can't..."

"You are not making sense. Get off your ass your bosh'tet!"

The husks began to charge Tali and Garrus, spilling into the street in haphazard running patterns. The light flashed from the sign and the horde grew twice in size. They were coming up from the sewer system,_ cascading_ out of apartment windows with the need to kill. Tali stared at Garrus who wasn't moving.

"Tali... gah... indo... move."

Tali decided to leave him behind. Hot tears brimmed on her lids as his hand slipped from hers. He had been by her side through all of these years. Tali could even say she loved him as a brother but it is either leave Garrus behind or risk killing everyone in the galaxy. Tali didn't know what was going on with her companion-her friend. His fighting spirit against the Reapers had been crushed, unable to fight for the small chance of success.

"I am so _sooorry_, Garrus."

"Don't..."

"I have to save Shepard."

Tali ran away, yelling at the husks and waving her hands.

"Over here! Garrus, I will give you some extra time." He said nothing but in his eyes were sapped in unadulterated pain and anger. Everyone has to make sacrifices, now was the time she had to make hers. "_Sorry, Garrus,_" she whispered and ran towards the train. Garrus might have a minute to live. Tali wished he would survive.

Never in her life has she ran as fast as she did, even on a sprained ankle and a half melted suit. She was breathless, but in the distance, she saw something that sucked all of the fight from her soul that sparked with electricity and passion. The maglev track was destroyed by a collapsed building. Not knowing the Citadel other than the parts she visited with Shepard and on her pilgrimage, she was lost.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali spun around. "Come on, come on, what can I use." The husk's screams chilled her, like an icy scalpel scraping against bone. They were closing on her fast. "Where is my luck? I need some luck, come on, come on! I cannot go out like this." Tali ran away from the husks and into an alleyway. An electrical cord _snapped _in the dark at the end of the alleyway. A brute lay in wait, melting back into the darkness as the light was swallowed.

It saw her.

"No luck here!"

There was another alleyway to her left and she beamed towards it, away from the brute. Shadows from the husks swam on the walls, chasing her.

_Run run run!_

Something caught her leg and she felt face first into the ground. She looked at what dropped her and saw an arm sleeved in a white coat with a red cross embroidered on it. A dead asari body was handing out of a vehicle.

An ambulance.

Tali had found her luck.

Getting to her feet, Tali tore open the sliding door to the vehicle and looked around noticing no hidden husks inside of the vehicle. This was her time to make a move-this piece of luck just might have saved the galaxy. Tali was in the process of closing the door when a gray arm snaked into the parted door.

"Keelah!"

The husk feverishly fought to get a fistful of Tali in order to yank her out into the street for its friends to finish off. Tali slammed the door on the arm and she heard a _snap. _The husk screamed, pushing itself deeper into the ambulance. The thing hit her in the chest with its flailing appendage and she was shocked by its supernatural power as she slammed on her back. Clenching her teeth, she kicked the husk in the head with her legs powered by high-octane adrenaline. To her pleasant surprise, its neck broke and its head knocked against its back. Tali could see servos and synthetic-organic hybrid muscles like hair sprout out of its gaping neck. It fell backwards, all the skin on its arm peeling off onto the lip of the door. Tali shut the door as fast as she could. More husks began knocking on the outside shell of the large vehicle.

"Too...close."

Now, she had an upper hand on these Reaper bosh'tets. Time to get even. Suddenly, Tali at the wheel of the ambulance felt eternally tired. She started up the vehicle and got the basic gist of the controls. They were simple enough, but... what was the goal of hers again? She has to save... who from what?

Tali yawned.

"I feel like sitting here," she told herself. Suddenly, Tali got it.

_Garrus was getting indoctrinated!_

_I am getting indoctrinated!_

"Keelah, I have got to go back and get him." Tali pulled the ambulance up and felt something scrape the bottom of the vehicle. It bucked and hit a wall yet she maintained control. The brute passed under her, almost taking her out.

Eyelids so heavy.

Fight it!

The Reapers... or even the Illusive Man, were taking its toll on her. Tali pushed the thruster forwards and rocketed towards Garrus' last location.

"Garrus, I am coming."

Tali could see him dragging himself into a corner, away from five husks who cleaved towards him.

"Vega, I am going to have one _hell _of a story to tell you when I get back," she said to herself through clenched teeth and shut eyes. Tali punched it and landed right in the middle of the crowd of husks, saving Garrus from being torn apart. The impact hurt and her head went crashing into the dashboard. Airbags detonated, slapping her in the face. Through the adrenaline, she went for her seatbelt to unhook it, then remembering that it was not attached to her in the first place.

"I will be feeling that in about five minutes."

Tali went to the back where the gurney was and tore open the door.

"Garrus, if that didn't impress you to the point of not coming, then I don't know what will, now get the hell up!"

His face was stunned.

"Break through the indoctrination, fight the sleep. Harbinger wants you to give up, don't you see? Fight it for Shepard, fight it for me, fight it for Palaven."

"Give me a hand, I think it is loosening its grip."

"Here, take both of them for all I care!"

"Reaper paste."

"Huh?"

"Tali, you made those husks into Reaper paste."

"Good, now get in here, I am driving!"

"Oh hell no. Don't push aside the Vakraian when he has the opportunity to driv-"

Tali shoved him into the passenger seat, cut the airbag off with her knife and shut the door.

"_I am driving._"

"Okay." He put on his seatbelt. "I think I might be needing this."

Through the radio, Tali heard a gunshot and a human male gasp. Tali looked towards Garrus.

"I heard that, now take off. They are in trouble."

Without wasting a breath, Tali rocketed into the air and zoomed towards the Presidium. Out the window, Tali saw hundreds of husks swarm where Garrus once was/

"We are so close to the end."

"Don't say that Tali, you will jinx us again. Let's just say we have a tactical advantage."

"Sorry."

"It is fine," he said.

"No, about leaving you to die back there."

"Again, that was the smartest possible maneuver you could have done. Shepard is more important than me. You can't have two studs like us walking around the galaxy. It just isn't fair to the other men."

"You tell jokes at the worst possible moments, you know that?"

"Hmmm-yeah, I know."

The Citadel was dark and Tali laid eyes on the Crucible for the first time. It was massive and she just couldn't understand what it was going to do.

"We have company, Tali!"

Tali looked in the monitor showing what was behind her. An Oculus tailed them, its red eye growing brighter.

"I jinxed us!"

"No, you just drive. Show me what you are made of, Tali."

Tali dipped and a red tongue licked the top of the ambulance, tearing it off.

"Bosh'tet!"

"That son-of-a-bitch! That hole isn't going to do us any good!"

"It weakened the vehicle's integrity, too!"

"Stay close to the ground where there is some atmosphere, Tali!"

"Can't do that!"

"What in the hell am I supposed to do without a helmet?"

"Hold your breath?"

"Not funny!"

"That wasn't a joke, Garrus!" His mandibles flared. "There should be a respirator in the back. Use it!"

Tali saw that there were now _two _of the Reaper fighters inbound. Garrus climbed in the back as Tali made a beeline for the sky, towards the Presidium where Shepard must be.

"Are there any guns in here, Tali?"

"This is an ambulance you incompetent bosh'tet! Open the rear door and throw whatever is in the back at them for all I care." Tali made a dive for the buildings as she saw red light becoming brighter. Suddenly, air rippled through the cabin of the vehicle. For a split second, Tali turned around in her seat to see what in the hell was going on. Garrus had tied a rope to his waist and opened the rear doors.

"What are you doing?" she screamed.

"Throwing stuff at them!"

"That was a joke!"

"Well how in the hell do I know when you are serious or not?"

He lobbed the gurney out the rear door and Tali actually saw it hit the Oculus as it spat out its beamed weapon. Somehow, a lens or something opens up when it is about to fire, allowing the inside of the fighter to be exposed for a split second. The leg prodded it as it fired and the fighter went up in a glorious fireball.

"You see that?" Garrus screamed.

"Do that again, and I can bet the stars are aligned over Palaven!"

"I am just a good shot, Tali!"

The Presidium was closing in fast. This ambulance was not going to be able to take another hit. No shields and no armor. This is strictly a civilian craft.

"I will take out the next craft," yelled Tali. As Wrex would put it, Tali grabbed her quads and did a ballsy move. Ahead was a building with a hole drilled right through the center of it-probably by Reaper weapons. It was _just _wide enough to squeeze through... at least she though.

"Tali, are you about to-"

"Yes, so deal with it!"

"You are too cocky, you won't make it!"

"So is the bosh'tet behind us if he follows me!"

"I am saying-oh, never mind!"

"Shut up! Just! Shut! Up!"

"I trust you," screamed Garrus, gripping onto her armrest.

"I don't!"

"Who, me?"

"No, _me_!"

"By the spirits..."

Tali gunned it towards the hole and the Oculus followed, charging up its beam, prepared to fire.

"Go go go _faster_!"

"I am going as fast as I can," screamed Tali.

The red light darkened as the face of the ambulance glided through the hole. She screamed as did Garrus. Chairs, beds, tables, and furniture flashed by them followed by a shattering explosion. In the monitor, Tali could see the Oculus clip an I-beam and spiral into the walls, detonating into a river of flames with the current chasing them through the craggy tunnel. They flung out of the inside of the building and a fist of flame followed them, failing to even touch them.

"Did _you _see that?" Tali screamed into Garrus' face.

"It wasn't_ that_ bad."

"Ten out of ten, just say it!"

"Okay, that was pretty damn impressive," admitted Garrus.

The Presidium was now a kilometer away. Shepard was so close to Tali.

"You will slingshot yourself through anything to get your Captain back, won't you?"

Tali shot him a look and he got the answer.

"Go to the tip, right where the Crucible meets the Presidium. I bet that is where they are."

The adrenaline still pulsed through Tali's body, but the closer they approached she could feel the indoctrinating effects growing stronger. They had to get there and fast. Who knows what has happened to Shepard. No matter what, she was going to save him even if that meant endangering her life and Garrus', though Garrus wouldn't mind one bit-just a little bit of extra fun and danger into the equation for him.

"Tali, I can _feel _it inside of... my... head."

"Fight it. You must fight it!"

"It wants me to take the wheel and crash us."

"We are almost there!"

Her arms were not hers-just avatars for the Reapers to end all chance for organics surviving. Tali felt the sudden urge to slit Garrus' neck. She wanted to see his blue blood wash the windshield from the inside of the ambulance. Keelah she wanted to kill him.

"Fight it Tali."

"I.. am."

The light from the Crucible was so close to them. Failing here, to indoctrination was _not _an option. A voice, not from her radio, but from _inside her brain _whispered to her. It was familiar, all too familiar. The Illusive Man spoke.

"_Tali'Zorah, your Commander is in trouble. I have him about to blow his brains out. You will lose him if you come any closer. If you do approach, I will personally seek it out that you watch him die from that vehicle window, then I will have you take out your knife and kill Vakarian, then make you slit your own throat. This is your last warning. I am in control. There is no plan B. Turn around now." _

"G-Garrus, did you hear that?"

"Yes." Both hands were reaching for his oxygen mask. "You know what must be done." The way he said it sounded like it was going to be the last time they ever spoke alive.

"If you can hear me, Mr. Universe, I _am _coming for you!"

"_That was a mistake._"

"_You _are the one making a mistake!"

Tali could see the three of them now. Anderson was clenching his stomach and Shepard had the lips of a pistol firmly pressed to his head. The Illusive Man stood between both of them, something very wrong with the way he looked. Tali pointed the car right towards him. There was no way this was going to happen.

"Garrus, hold on!"

Tali shattered the indoctrination and leaned into the thrusters, screaming. She could see Shepard look up at the vehicle and they locked eyes. He was battered but still very much alive. A smile broke across his lips as he saw the shuttle hurdling towards them.

"_I love you, Shepard,_" she whispered and shut her eyes, letting the indoctrination swell over her. Tali just let physics take over-she had faith those trusty equations would lead her to the correct path and right down the throat of the Illusive Man. Before closing her eyes though, Tali saw his face, the Illusive Man's face. It was riddled with rage and terror before the bumper of the ambulance carved into him. Sable waves crushed Tali's vision as they impacted and she could feel the crunch and wet pop of the Illusive Man being dragged under the shuttle as it skidded for a short distance then stopped-as did the itchy, painful claws of indoctrination. Tali rested her head on the dashboard, breathing heavily.

"Garrus, are you okay?" She turned around to see where her friend was.

"Tali, you are one crazy son-of-a-bitch."

With a wave of her hand, she said," Thanks," then collapsed, laughing.

"Tali, are you okay?"

Tali answered Shepard's voice, "Yes, I only just squashed the Illusive Man, a main enemy of ours and saved Commander Shepard's life, I am _more _than okay." The driver-side door was pulled open and Shepard stood there. Tali gasped as she saw the state he was in. The first thing Tali thought he looked like was melted candle wax dusted with soot and blood.

"Shepard!"

"I thought I lost you, Tali!"

Tali tore the seatbelt off and clasped his head in both her hands.

"Are you okay? What happened? Do you need medical attention?"

"Garrus, seek attention to Anderson. He has a bullet wound!"

"Roger that, Commander."

"Tali, god I thought-"

Tali pressed a finger against his lips. "Your girlfriend just saved your little _bosh._" Tali grabbed Shepard's pistol and walked to the front of the vehicle. "Is he under here? I want to make sure he is dead." Tali looked at Shepard. "Where is the Illusive Man?"

Both of them heard a grunt and the car moved slightly, shifting over the deflating body of the Illusive Man. Tali saw his head right under the left blinker, of which were flashing yellow because of the hazard lights. His face was a monstrosity.

"Shep-Shepard, you," he said, coughing up blood. "You must-" Tali shot him in the face twice.

"Everything okay?" asked Garrus, more towards the gunshots.

"Unfinished business," said Tali, and walked towards Anderson who clasped an exit wound on his back.

"I've never been shot in the torso before. Goddamn does it hurt," he wheezed, sounding quite squeaky.

"I think he has a collapsed lung," informed Garrus. "Luckily, Tali hijacked this ambulance."

"How did you manage that?" asked Shepard.

"Long story, Commander." said Tali. "We'll tell it to you after we fire this thing."

"This should make you happy, Anderson."

"Morphine, Garrus?"

"Yes sir."

"Stick it in me." The needle bit through his pants leg. "_Oh yeah_."

"We need to fire the Crucible and now." Shepard walked towards the console. "Let's hope this thing works."

"Do you have any idea of what it is going to do?" asked Tali, checking Anderson from a distance.

"He'll make it, don't worry about him. Anderson is a tough son of a gun."

"Shepard, get the Crucible operational now, we are losing ships," said Anderson.

Tali watched Shepard limp towards the console and she just had to stare-take a breather for a moment. The past ten minutes of her life have been some of the toughest in her life. Each second carved a new scar into her emotionally and each minute that ticked by aged her by a year. As for Shepard, Keelah she cannot even imagine what he was going through. Once they get out of here, _if _they get out of here, Tali was going to spoil her Captain for the rest of his life but first, he needed to be patched up. The blast nearly took Garrus and her out, but Shepard took the direct hit. The only thing that had to have been holding him together were the cybernetics Cerberus rebuilt him with. The thought crossed her mind of thanking Cerberus for what they have done, but was gone as fast as it appeared. Tali turned around to look at the blue luminescent smear the Illusive Man left on the metal platform. The light from his blood was fading and quickly going black.

"Okay, it is operational."

Tali heart flashed at what Shepard said.

"This is it. All we have fought for, all of the casualties we have taken, all of the scars carved into us have been for this very moment," whispered Tali. Shepard grabbed Tali's hand and they sat down next to Garrus and Anderson. The Crucible hummed-charging up, ready to take down all of the Reapers.

"Commander?"

"Yes, Anderson."

"We did good." Anderson's brown eyes scanned Garrus and Tali's. "You two are the true heroes today. Without your undoubtedly ballsy flying, Tali, we would all be dead." Anderson looked at the Illusive Man's top half hanging out from under the vehicle. His hand was curled up like a dead tarantula. "How in the hell did he get _so _powerful?"

"Does it really matter anymore? A two ton vehicle and a double tap took out the Reaper's agent. He wasn't _that_ tough," said Tali.

"He almost got us." Anderson coughed. "Where did you learn to fly like that, Tali?"

"Vega and Joker. They are a bad influence to hang out with."

"I figured."

"Just a forewarning," said Garrus, "Don't ever let a quarian fly if she is angry. The inside of the lower portion of my suit is, well... let's just say warm and wet."

The four of them laughed and waited for the Crucible to fire. The humming stopped at a certain pitch, then something heavy and metallic _clanked _above them. It was going to happen soon, Tali was certain. She thought of all the lost faces. Mordin and Thane came to mind, followed by Legion. _His _voice before he died had emotion. A robot. What they created all those years ago was something special-disturbing yet unequivocally beautiful. Everything they have done, every action, has blazed a path in history. They carved their own path with every decision every made. Now, it was time to make the last blow to these Reapers once and for all. Shepard leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the mask. Tali stared at the ring of blood caked on her smoked veil and finally, I lifelong question had been answered: how can someone measure the length of infinity? Tali stared at Shepard and knew that she would go at _any length_ to save Shepard powered by the machine of love. Maybe... just maybe the infinite is not a measure of the physical but of something one feels and cannot see. Tali gripped his hand harder, reassuring him that everything was going to work. The Crucible was going to fire. The Reapers were all going to die. They were going to be picked up. Everything they strived for was going to work out.

"Shepard, Commander!"

They all pause at Admiral Hackett's voice, listening in anticipation.

_This is it. This is the end._

"Nothing's happening. The Crucible's not firing."

**Okay guys/gals, I know I have said this before, but I will say it again. I thought this was going to be a one shot, but look at how that turned out! This will consist of multiple chapters, so hang on tight. I will admit, after writing humor/romance over the past year, getting to do suspense was fun again. For those **_**Snake in the Mud **_**and **_**Deception **_**followers, I hope you enjoyed. I am thinking a couple more chapters will do until I hit the true end the way I would have liked it to happen. This is my first time breaking canon and boy, does it feel good after what BioWare put us through! For those who liked my mushy-facemelting stories, stay with me. More coming soon since spring break at college has begun. Also, once my editor finishes the game, there should be less mistakes. The machine writer is coming back out...**

**-RAGE**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Altruistic Futurist Part II**

"What do you mean 'nothing is happening'?"

"Shepard, I am telling you, nothing is happening up here on our end!"

Tali couldn't believe what Admiral Hackett was telling them. Was this all for nothing or was there something else that had to be done? The view around them was immense. The sheer scale of this attack was unlike anything the galaxy has probably ever seen before—maybe millions of years ago but still, Tali felt so small and insignificant even though they were ready to pull the trigger that could take out the Reapers once and for all. The air had an angry buzz hanging heavily onto each and every molecule. It clutched onto every incoming vibration—it sounded like a hive of bees swarming for a unified attack. The sound of war was consuming everything.

"What…what do we do?" asked Shepard.

"You need to figure that out. The Reapers are too much—too many of them. It is up to you, Commander, to finish this fight."

Tali could hear an explosion rip through the hull of his ship, and then the radio went out. They were left alone up here in this mysterious place next to a smeared and long gone Illusive Man.

"Tali?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"Do you have any idea of what to do?"

"Let me see this console."

Tali's heart pounded in her throat while hoping to see a big green button that _said Push to kill Reapers_ but the console was all in… prothean.

"Shepard, look!"

Shepard limped to the console to check it out.

"It…changed."

"You can see a difference?" asked Tali.

"Well, the console was white a second ago, now it is green."

"It is in prothean, for me."

"This could be our break, Commander," said Anderson, splayed out on the floor, now stabilized by Garrus. Tali's turian friend walked over to the console, curious.

"Has it been like that, Commander?" Garrus asked.

"It just changed, Garrus."

Tali saw a big circular button right in the center of the console. It spun, glowing whiter and whiter like it was heating up.

"Press that one," she told Shepard.

His gloved hand hovered over it and he jabbed it. Everyone recoiled, expecting a blast, but nothing came of it.

"Anything?" asked Anderson.

Tali shielded her eyes as a white light illuminated everything around them. Was this it—the finale of their journey? Was it to end in a bright light?

"Shepard!"

"Right here, Tali."

She opened her eyes to Shepard's face.

"We are not dead…_yet_," commented Garrus as they arose on a platform.

"Garrus, get down from here and stay with Anderson!"

"Commander, I am not missing this for the world."

"Shepard," yelled Anderson to the trio as they rose on this mysterious platform, "Garrus patched me up fine. I will wait for you here until you finish the job. By the way, you might need him. You could just meet a Reaper up there."

"I will be back, Anderson."

"I know."

"Commander," said Garrus, "If this is the end, I want to die by your side—die by Tali's side. You two have been there for me at the worst of times. Family doesn't abandon each other."

"Alright you two, we have to expect anything up there."

"What are we going to fight with?" asked Tali.

"That knife of yours should do the job, Tali."

Tali looked at Garrus, then to her blade.

"Yeah, I'll just stab out Harbinger's eyes with it."

"With the stunts you have pulled, I can see it happening."

"I am missing something," commented Shepard, wiping blood from his nose.

"When we get back to the Normandy, we will show you the recorded footage." Garrus chuckled. "We can make millions of off it. Imagine, we can make a documentary out of our missions, give it to an editor and make a full length feature film. _The Adventures of Commander Shepard and Crew_."

"We are probably about to die and you are making_ jokes_?"

"What else are we supposed to do?" asked Tali.

Shepard looked up at the light and sighed.

"I don't know. The last thing I can remember thinking of before clocking out was you two."

Tali seized his hand.

"I should have said something to you back on the SR1, Shepard." Tali looked into his face. "I was just too embarrassed to ask the great Commander Shepard out for a picnic… or something."

"Everyone knew of your crush on the Commander, Tali; even Joker."

"I didn't know," said Shepard.

"Shepard, when it comes to these things, you are like a blind, fumbling old man," said Garrus.

"Well…" Shepard had nothing to say.

"Together, let's finish this," said Garrus.

Both Tali and Shepard looked at Garrus. They were all born to finish this war together and born to the friends until time takes them away one by one. There was no way Tali was going to let victory slip away from them this time. After Thessia, defeat like that cannot return again. Not this time. The platform stopped, as did Tali's heart momentarily. In front of them was the tip of the Crucible, which injected light into the base of the floor. The hum became louder, shifted, and leveled out. Tali searched the room with anxious eyes, desperately looking for a console of sorts—anything that had a big red button on it that said _FIRE_.

"The battle is looking bad out there," said Garrus. Tali looked all around them—at all of the destruction, debris, and death floating in the relentless cold vacuum of space. It was the final battle of this cycle and was taking place over Earth. Garrus, Shepard and her were at the beating heart of this battle, fighting through the arteries and have wound up in a ventricle, ready to fire the final blow. Two-kilometer long Sovereign class Reapers silently floated in space, oblivious to their greatest threats—their most dynamic and extravagant foes of all, powered not by revenge but emotions that Reapers will never ever be able to whiteness through their machined brains. They all fought for each other… for love. Earth was lit aflame. It suffered a beating from the Reapers but it still stood, like Shepard, waiting to literally dance around the next haymaker so they can land the last blow. This was their big moment. This was everyone's big moment. Life, from this point on, will be decided in these next few minutes. A thermonuclear explosion from a cruiser carved into Tali's mask and scraped her ocular flesh. Time was about to run out _forever._

"What do we do now?" asked Tali, taking a step off the platform.

A white dot in front of them appeared. Tali could see it approach and the closer it got, she felt a sickness in her stomach.

It was her father.

Tali snapped her head toward Shepard and Garrus. Both of them had looks of disbelief and angst.

"Shep—"

"I see it."

"Father," she whimpered.

"What are you doing here?" Tali's father said to Shepard.

Her father looked right past Tali and at Shepard.

"What? Tali, do you see your father?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, he is standing right there!" Tali jabbed a finger into her holographic father's chest. Tali's finger bounced off its surface. It was solid.

"I see the kid I told you about in my dreams, not your father, Tali," said Shepard. "Garrus?"

"It is one of my old squad mates from Omega."

"What are you doing here?" it asked

Tali's throat crimped at the sound of her father's voice. On her omni-tool, she has kept all of her family's recordings and she revisits them every so often when feeling down. Only on several occasions has she revisited her father's recording he left for her on the Aleri. Tali looked into the holograph's face and, for some reason, saw her father somewhere in that…_ ghost_. His voice was her father's voice and the way he pronounced certain words sounded just like him. Tali reached out to her father's hand and took it. His embrace was as warm as it was years ago.

"Where are we?" Shepard asked.

"The Citadel, it is my home."

"No, your home is on the Flotilla, Father."

"Who are you?" asked Shepard.

"I am the Catalyst."

"We thought the Citadel was the Catalyst?"

"No, the Citadel is part of me."

Tali listened to the Catalyst… her father, tell them all of the secrets of the universe and all of the answers that have been shielded from them over the past years were revealed in an instant. There was too much to soak in. The whole battle outside was ignored by Tali. She honed all her senses in on the Catalyst, just drinking in everything he said with the utmost look of surprise baked onto her face. This was all too surreal. The things her father spewed to her had to be wrong. Everything that they had fought for had no meaning to it. Tali let go of the Catalyst's hand and stared at Shepard. He was crushed by what he was hearing. Garrus paced anxiously by Shepard's side and Tali could tell her turian friend wanted to push his boney fist into the Catalyst's face.

"So, what you are essentially saying," started Shepard, "is _everything_ I have done will go to waste if I choose one of your three options?"

"That is what must be done," said the Catalyst, "You have the option of choosing the fate of your people. You should feel fortunate."

"I don't like this, Commander," said Garrus, eyeing Shepard's pistol. "I say we plug this bastard's brain with a bullet and be done with it. I don't want this… _thing_ telling us what our fate is."

"Tali?"

"Yes," Tali answered Shepard.

"What do you think of fate?"

"I don't like not being able to steer my future."

Shepard sighed and grabbed Tali's hand.

"Is there a fourth option?"

"No. You have to choose from these. We have been waiting and planning for this moment for millennia. These are your only choices," said the Catalyst to Shepard.

"This isn't right." Shepard said, running a hand through his stubble. "There has to be another contingency. I have fought for so much and… I just don't get it."

Tali stared at the Catalyst; a thing that had taken the form of something she loves dearly, and realized that this ghost was an infiltrator of the brain—it tugs on the gray matter's sympathetic strings for its own manipulation.

"Shepard, don't listen to it!" she shouted.

Shepard walked past it to get a better look at the spire of light cutting deep into the Citadel. She could see his fist tighten.

"Shepard, if I were you, I'd destroy the Reapers once and for all," said Garrus.

"You can't do that!" yelled Tali, "Think of EDI. Think of the geth, Shepard. You would commit genocide on an entire people!"

"I never thought I would hear that out of you, Tali," said Garrus.

"Well I have changed."

"Shepard, we have strived for peace between the geth. You cannot take it all away!"

"But the Reapers, Shepard. This war can be ended today."

"Think of our people, Garrus. If we choose that, the mass relays will explode. We will be stranded here and starve without proper resources!"

Tali walked behind Shepard and clasped onto his hand.

"There has to be another way…" Shepard muttered.

"Shepard, just choose," said Tali.

"Tali, you don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"I die no matter what I choose."

Tali, who listened so intently to the Catalyst, just… figured it out. She spun to the Catalyst and stared it down. It was insulting to see it in the form of her father. This super advanced artificial intelligence just doesn't grasp the meaning of the _infinite_ love organics hold for each other. This thing isn't some super smart self aware AI, but a program that doesn't understand the simplest yet most complex theme to organics which is camaraderie, passion, respect, honor, and love. Again, something that seems stoic and unbeatable from the outside can be broken—shattered by the willpower of humans. They have proved that by fighting the Reapers. There was no way Tali was going to lose Shepard again. Physically and mentally, she cannot go through such trauma and pain like that ever again. Tali grabbed the pistol from Shepard's hand, drew a bead on the Catalyst's forehead and pulled the trigger. The bullet arced right into its face and red pixels flashed where the entrance wound was, then went back to white.

"Violence is not the answer to this solution," it said.

"In all three of these choices there is violence!" yelled Shepard. "Who makes you the boss of me—of my future? I already had my future planned out. I was going to detonate this weapon, kill the Reapers, and build a house—a family with Tali'Zorah vas Normandy! I refuse to believe I have to choose either A, B, or C. These… _variables_ are not going on the right side of the equal sign in the equation that is my life; I have been making choices—numbers—that will make up the answer I want. There is always another way of doing things. I know the universe is a cold and calculating machine, but we are about to break this cycle. I have the answer to my equation and no hidden variable is going to change that!"

"This isn't go—"

"Just shut up! I have had enough of your poisonous words!"

Tali took a pace away from Shepard of whom was about to explode.

"You are a program without emotion. There is no way for you understand what I have gone through, what I have achieved," Shepard looked at Tali, "and what it is I am about to lose." Shepard walked over to the Catalyst and shoved a finger into its chest. "If there isn't a fourth option, I will _make_ one!"

Shepard grabbed it by the throat and lifted it into the air. Suddenly, the Catalyst shape shifted from her father into another quarian of which Tali recognized: herself. It screamed in Tali's voice and begged.

"You can't do this. I trusted you, Shepard. You cannot kill me!"

Shepard said nothing and walked towards the light. Tali's surrogate escaped, but Shepard grabbed it by the leg. It fell face first and Shepard began dragging it towards the beam of light. The Catalyst shape shifted once again to the form of a child—the one Shepard described from his nightmares. The child's scream knifed through the air and stuck Tali's heart. It sounded so real and laced with genuine fear.

"If you do this, everyone will die!" it screamed.

"Shepard," Garrus chased after Shepard, "what if it is right?"

Tali chased after Garrus.

"Let him do this, Garrus!"

The Catalyst, this child, grabbed at the floor, trying to get a hold of something. Its face was buried in fear.

"What are you doing, Shepard?" asked Tali, trying to keep up with Shepard's pace.

"This is the end of you all," it yelled. "This is a galactic mistake!"

Shepard reached the beam of light. His wounds slowly oozed blood as another cruiser discharged retina burning light as its hull split open. Shepard grabbed the child by the neck and lifted it in the air with one arm. Both Shepard and the Catalyst locked eyes and Tali, at this single moment, knew what Shepard's plan was and that he had the utmost confidence in this final decision.

"No,_ you_ are the mistake."

Shepard threw the Catalyst into the beam of light and its screams of pain filled the entire room with a truly satanic shriek. The white beam of light sparked and popped, devouring the Catalyst's body. The humming they once heard lowered then throbbed, like a heartbeat. Again, it throbbed and with each pump, the pace quickened.

"Commander?"

Shepard looked at Garrus.

"Yes?"

"I hope that was the right thing you just did."

"It had to have been."

"Shepard, I think… I think we should get out of here," said Tali, pointing towards the beam of light that was subtly turning blue, although behind that beam of light was a black mass kilometers away from them. It grew larger as it approached and through the debris field, Tali could make out yellow eyes carving through the floating field of death.

Harbinger.

"Call Joker for a pick up, right now!"

Garrus got on the radio: "Garrus to the SR2, Joker, can you hear me?"

Tali snaked an arm around Shepard's waist and helped him hobble back to the platform.

"If we pissed off Harbinger, I think we did something right," said Garrus. "That little bastard needed to be thrown in there." Garrus tried again. "SR2, do you read?"

"I can bet that the beam is blocking all communications."

"You are probably right, Tali," commented Shepard. All three of them stood on the pedestal, waiting for it to move. To Tali's astonishment, it shuttered and levitated back down to where they once stood. Anderson was leaning against the ambulance with a big sloppy grin on his face.

"You did it, didn't you?"

"Not too sure," said Tali to Anderson.

"What do you mean by that? This whole place is just lit up!"

The three of them stared at Anderson, confused.

"Those panels that conduct electricity behind us—the path you came in here from, Shepard, are hauling ass. Whatever you did up there triggered something."

Tali leaned Shepard against the ambulance and walked down the only path leading away from the platform. The same electricity conductors from the Shadow Broker ship churned and arched with blue bolts of power. Through Tali's suit even, she could feel static electricity prickling her face. Something has happened but what?

"We have to get off the Citadel. I have a bad feeling about this," said Garrus.

"Can we use the ambulance?" asked Shepard, looking at the vehicle that was smoldering.

"We had two Oculus fighters chasing us and they tore off the top. We would die once we hit the vacuum of space."

"Tali, you had two Oculus fighters tailing you?" asked Shepard.

"Long story. That can be saved for later." Tali tried her radio. "Joker, come in!"

"They are out," said Anderson.

"Doesn't the ambulance have a short wave radio somewhere in it? Can't we use that?" suggested Garrus. Tali jumped into the vehicle and within a second, she found exactly what she was looking for. Since this beam was incredibly high-tech, something far beyond their comprehension, this old fashioned emergency radio should, technically, work. Tali blindly groped for the mouth piece and screamed into it.

"Joker, hello? This is Tali, can you read me? Anyone, can you read me?"

The radio popped and hissed. There was no answer. Tali played with the frequency but her hands shook too much. She fumbled it and punched the dashboard.

"Bosh'tet!"

Shepard walked into the cab and plopped himself into the passenger seat. Keelah, he was a mess.

"Hand me the talkie, Tali."

Frustration swelled in her chest—inflating with more and more hot air until it was bursting at the seams, ready to pop. With a deep breath, Tali suppressed this feeling, knowing that if she did pop, all hope was to be lost.

"Tali, calm down. We are not out of the fight yet. Keep it together now."

"I am trying _so hard_, Shepard."

Shepard played with the radio and spoke whispers into the mouth piece just wishing someone would pick up the signal. There they were, Shepard, Anderson, Garrus, and Tali, at the end of this galactic cycle, crying out for help. She would have never thought it would have ended this way—abandoned on the Citadel with no way to get out. The battle outside continued to rage, and all she could do was sit here and watch. Her people were fighting the Reapers, exchanging shots, and she sat here with her Captain, helpless and watching. Keelah, there was so much debris floating around from their ships, although Tali could see husks of Reaper ships amongst the graveyard which did, in fact, make a grin snake across her lips.

"Harbinger is coming for us, Shepard. We need to get out of here," said Garrus.

"Normandy, this is ground team, please, Joker, do you read?"

The Citadel shook and the vibrations tickled the inside of Tali's ears. Harbinger was now no longer a black dot, but if Tali could outstretch her arm and make a fist, Harbinger was the size of her hand. It was close, so very close now. Tali climbed out of the driver seat and crawled into Shepard's lap, just knowing this was the end. The biggest Reaper in the fleet was _hurdling_ towards them with the intent to destroy. It had no sense of self preservation and would just _fling_ itself at them until they were gone.

"I don't think we are going to make it out of this one."

"Ah! Watch the arm, Tali."

"Oh, _sooorry_."

Garrus looked at the two of them, nodded, and went out to Anderson. He let them have their space for he knew what Tali wanted to do. Tali nuzzled her head under Shepard's chin, wanting to feel his stubble brush against her face. She closed her eyes to feel Shepard's breath—his chest slowly rising and falling. She felt an arm wrap around Tali's back, pulling her closer.

"I thought we had them, Shepard. I really did."

"We activated the Catalyst; we did get them, Tali. It's just—"

"We won't see the end alive," she said.

Tali straddled Shepard's lap and grabbed his face with her hands. His eyes proved he was tired and had achieved victory.

"Well, one thing you will get to see, is me, before we go out with a bang," Tali said, tapering her sentence off with a flirtatious whisper.

"I'd like to see you one more time, Tali."

Tali could feel Harbinger bearing down on them and she knew their time was like a dwindling fuse ready to ignite the powder keg. Tali pressed a finger to his lips and leaned in. Shepard's hands slowly lifted to her mask and a subtle hiss expelled from the open creases.

"Hey there," she said now looking into his face without a purple tint masking everything. Shepard swiped a wisp of hair away from the corner of her mouth and stuffed it into the helmet's hair band. Shepard smiled and Tali leaned her lips into Shepard's smiling ones. They passionately kissed, knowing that this was going to be the last chance they will ever get to do so. Tali pulled her lips out of Shepard's and brushed her nose against his.

"You're so brave, Tali," he whispered.

"Why do you say that?"

"You are not crying." His thumb brushed the corner of her eye. "Not a single tear."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Tali. Just stay brave—show courage." Shepard looked over Tali's shoulder. "It looks like this is the end." Tali could see the reflection of Harbinger in the glass window from the rear ambulance door. Its yellow eyes burned with furious hatred and Tali could see a red molten glob forming at the tip of one of its tendrils.

"This is it, Shepard. Keelah, this is it."

Shepard grabbed her and they embraced for the last time. Tali snuck in one more kiss, and then hugged back, squeezing with all her might, waiting for Harbinger to slingshot his hot slug right through the windshield of the ambulance.

"Stay brave."

The Citadel shook violently and an emphatic _bang_ rocked the platform. Tali screamed.

"Commander, Joker here! Sorry we are late to the party!"

Tali spun around and saw Harbinger disappear in a blue flash of light followed by a scream of pain through means of its foghorns.

"Joker, you brilliant bosh'tet!"

"Tali? Damn is it good to hear your voice!"

"Joker, do you have our position?" Shepard yelled, fumbling the shortwave radio. "You got our transmission?"

"I installed a shortwave radio on the Normandy way back on Omega all those months ago. I have seen _way_ too many apocalypse movies to know that these things are our best friends for this kind of situation."

"We need a pick up right now! We have armed the Catalyst and it should be firing any second now."

"Yeah, that and I know I just pissed off Harbinger with that last shot. Coming in for a pick up, this will be a hot one!"

Tali slapped her mask back on and jumped off Shepard's lap, assisting him to his feet.

"Garrus, get Anderson up! Joker is coming by!"

Garrus scooped Anderson up and watched Harbinger reel after being hit by the thanix canons.

"I hope my calibrations gave him a bloody nose."

"Tell Garrus that whatever he did to the canons… well, tell him my girl bites harder than anything I have ever seen before."

Garrus mumbled something under his breath. All Tali could make out was that it sounded like victory.

"Coming in Commander!"

Tali peered around the room, looking out of the panoramic window. Now that the Citadel's arms have opened, she had a clear view of the battle. A blue light winked at them, then arced over Harbinger—who was tumbling foreword—and the Normandy, Tali's baby, appeared, poking its nose into the room they were positioned at. A thin blue line rippled down the spine of the SR2 as it penetrated the mass effect field protecting them from the vacuum of space. The hatch to the decontamination room hissed open and a familiar face was waiting for them.

"Zaeed, goddamn is it good to see you," said Garrus.

"Well if it isn't the guddamn space raptor, Garrus Vakarian." Zaeed Massani held an outstretched arm to everyone, helping them board the Normandy. Shepard gave Zaeed a _what the hell_ look. "I'll fill you in later, Shepard. First, let's get our guddamn asses out of Harby's scope, grab him by the balls, and rifle butt him in the face." He looked at everyone with a maniacal grin. "We've got ourselves a Reaper to kill." They all climbed aboard and the hatch shut. All of them stood there in awkward silence while they were decontaminated.

"Tha 'ell happened to you, Tali?" Zaeed asked, staring at her half melted armor.

"What, did you expect me to come back with roses in my hair and rainbows coming out of my _bosh_?"

Zaeed's face was stoic, then contorted with laughter. "Your guddamn girl found a sense of humor while I was gone, Shepard."

"Thanks."

"You look like shit, Shepard."

"It might be because I feel like it."

"Garrus, you look…well, you always looked like shit," said Massani.

"Thanks, I am flattered."

"Wot happened to 'im, Anderson?" Massani pointed a gloved finger at Anderson who was out like a light.

"Tell you later, Massani."

"Drinks on me after we win 'dis and we gotta swap some guddamn stories. I've got a few to tell myself."

"I hear you," said Garrus, Shepard, and Tali at once.

The decontamination door opened and Tali felt Liara lunge into Tali's chest.

"By the Goddess you are okay, Tali!"

"I am fine." Tali hugged her long time friend and waved to Alenko from over Liara's shoulder.

"Did you arm the Catalyst? I heard Shepard say something about it over the communication channel."

"We think so," said Shepard.

"What do you mean 'we think so'?"

Shepard looked at Kaiden.

"I will tell you later, I need to talk to Hackett."

Tali flicked her head in the direction of the cockpit. Shepard winked at her.

"I saw that." Kasumi walked around the corner, crossed both arms, and leaned against the door. "Hey there, girl."

"Kasumi!" Tali lunged at her and wrapped her arms around Kasumi's trim figure. "Keelah, I was hoping you were not dead!"

"I am fine, I am fine. How are you?"

"Well, I was chased by husks, lit on fire, ran over the Illusive Man with an ambulance, and armed the Catalyst. I would say I'm doing okay. Also, my friends are all here."

"To the end," said Samara, appearing around the corner.

"Everyone, up here now!"

Tali listened to Shepard's order and all of them pilled behind Joker's chair. In the window, Tali could see the Citadel which blossomed open and at the center, the bright light was becoming even brighter and bluer. Behind that, was Harbinger. A metal plate had fallen off where the thanix canon had hit it yet Tali could see a writhing blue mass where the canon left a scar.

"Is Harby repairing itself?" asked Joker, who zoomed in on the blue spot. Tali leaned in to get a better view and noticed thousands of machines, swarmers to be exact, filling the holes.

"Are those…"

"Spiders!" shouted Tali.

"Well goddamn, I hate spiders," said Joker.

"Admiral Hackett here, Shepard, get on the communication channel now."

"Hackett, this is Commander Shepard. Please tell me your scientists have found something."

"Whatever you did up there, Commander, the readings are off the chart. I hope to God you are ready for what I am going to tell you."

"Hit me."

Tali slipped a hand inside of Shepard's, bracing for the news. A finger touched Tali's shoulder and she turned around to see Jack's face. They nodded and Tali couldn't help but grin at Grunt and Jacob standing behind them. The whole crew, well, almost the whole crew had returned and reunited, no doubt due to Joker's inhuman flying. Garrus came springing towards them from the elevator.

"Anderson has been stabilized by Chakwas. He is going to make it," said Garrus. Miranda followed Garrus, obviously coming from the med-bay too. Tali had to admit, it was good to see the Cerberus cheerleading bosh'tet back on board.

"Hackett here. Shepard, so far our scanners are picking up a massive electro-magnetic field. They are saying that it will envelope the entire Sol system when it gets enough build up. This could fry everything we have and leave us dead in the water."

There were hushed whispers among the crowd in the Normandy.

" EDI, can you tell us anything more?" asked Shepard.

"Hackett has said everything we know of. We just have to wait out the storm."

"Commander, I suggest you jump out of the system. Save yourselves while you can. I think this thing might take all of us out any minute. That is an order. If you jump, we have a chance of not going extinct."

"You can shove your orders up your ass sideways, with all due respect, sir. This is my fight, our fight and I am not leaving."

"Commander!"

"Court marshal my ass when this is done, Shepard out!"

Joker turned off the communication channel and turned around to look at the crew with a big devious grin painted on his face. Grunt let out a low _heh heh heh_ and Jack punched Shepard in the arm.

"This has got to work."

"Ummm, Commander?"

"Yes, EDI?"

"There is an incoming transmission."

"Who is it?"

EDI spun around in her chair.

"Harbinger."

"Can it get into the Normandy's systems, EDI?"

"Negative. I have made it impossible for anything to hack through our nerve center."

"Patch it through."

To the left of Joker, a holograph of six glowing eyes appeared. Tali could hear it wheeze through the channel. It was wounded.

"_Organics, your actions do not impress us. They are infantile in the grand scheme of the universe. As a human looks at an anthill as a mere annoyance, we look at you in a similar manner._"

"You missed me down there, Harbinger," spat Tali. "You are a machine who made a mistake—a miscalculation in arithmetic. That is a very organic trait. The perfection you gloat about is humorous and inaccurate."

"_Tali'Zorah, you voice wavers with fear—fear is what has ultimately killed the inhabitants of past cycles. I also sense stubbornness. This is the trait that lets us smear organics into cosmic paint. Your confidence is meaningless and trifling_."

"We are coming for you. We will kill you."

"_Your words are as void and hollow as the next hour of your life, Shepard_."

"Commander, look."

Everyone followed Joker's finger to the Citadel and Tali gasped at a pulsing light emanating from the center of the fanned out Citadel. Something was happening.

It was _big_.

A blue orb formed around the Crucible, then, like the rays of sun on Rannoch, ignited and shot out into space, followed by the orb, of which swelled and followed in the rays in their wake. Tali's mask polarized from the intensity and she shielded her face from the most fantastic light she has ever seen.

"Joker!"

"Gah, yeah?"

"What was that?" asked the Commander.

"That was an electro-magnetic pulse, Commander."

Tali looked around the cockpit of the ship. Everything was still humming normally.

"How did the Citadel… the Crucible do that?"

"I worked on that thing and there was no way that it could release that much energy," mentioned Kasumi.

"Commander, if my readings are correct, Sol has decreased in size by one-hundred-million cubic miles."

"EDI, how can that be? Did we lose something?"

"Again, when referring to these statistics, it looks like the Crucible used all of the dark matter to amass energy, converted it into electro-magnetic fields and expelled all of its energy."

"Joker, do we have shields?"

"Roger that, Commander."

"What about Harbinger?"

Joker's mouth dropped open.

"What? What _ees_ it, Joker?" asked Tali, gripping his shoulder.

"It…uh, it—let me double check."

Joker's hands danced on the holographs.

"Hackett reporting, everyone, fire _everything_ you have at the Reapers, their shields are down! Their goddamn shields are down!"

"Shep-Shepard, you did it!" Tali grabbed his hand.

"No, we did it." Shepard, for the first time in years, let a true and unadulterated smile take over his face. "Joker, fire everything you have at Harbinger!"

Tali could see the six yellow eyes slim. She saw fear in its face. A Reaper, a machine, was afraid.

"This is Admiral Hackett to the fleet." There was silence on the radio. "Fire everything you have at the sons-of-bitches."

Joker sent a salvo of thanix fire right into the center of Harbinger's face and on the holographic monitor, Tali saw two of its eyes go dark.

"I know this hurts you, you son-of-a-bitch!" screamed Joker at Harbinger firing another pair as the first two passed through the Reaper without much explosive damage. It just cut through it—the two rounds going in and out of the metal husk.

Tali stared in awe as the second pair of two blue orbs slingshot through space and slapped Harbinger right in the face, this time igniting the whole of the Reaper in a shawl of superheated gas. The crew cheered as Joker flew away to get another angle on the Reaper flagship, all while killing three more Sovereign class ships in his bank.

Admiral Hackett came back on the radio: "Commander, we are getting reports from other systems that the Reaper shields have gone offline. They are saying a blue light has come through the mass relays and dropped the shields, even paralyzed a lot of Reapers! The mass relays must be acting as weapons against the Reapers, pushing the EMP blast from system to system—a chain reaction of sorts that is systematically dropping all of their shields."

Tali wanted to take the reigns of the Normandy from Joker and shoot down a couple of Reapers herself. As Joker pulled a high-G maneuver in an effort to get another shot off at Harbinger, Tali saw it, floating in space and torn in half vertically as the hot gas chilled, no longer shielding it.

"Keelah."

"I like killing big things with even bigger guns," muttered Grunt.

"It is not finished yet, Grunt. Look," pointed Miranda. The space where Harbinger was split right down the middle filled up with what looked like black tendrils of ink in a glass of water.

"Is it… re-growing itself?" asked Kasumi, who picked at her lower lip, obviously nervous.

"It must be a new Reaper repair protocol we have not seen yet," said EDI. "It all makes sense."

"Admiral Hackett, this is Shepard. Are any other Reaper ships repairing themselves?"

"Commander, not that I can tell so far. All the ones we have blasted will make for a good idea of a two-thousand piece puzzle after this war is done. They look like black shattered glass."

"We need the whole fleet to target Harbinger. What is the strength of our ships?"

"We've lost, surprisingly, only eighteen-percent of our ships."

Tali sighed, knowing that thousands of her people are in that percentage.

"Tell everyone to bank off of their targets. Let the fighters take out the Reapers since their shields are gone. Get all of the cruisers, dreadnaughts, and destroyers over here ASAP!"

Tali watched in horror as Harbinger rebuilt itself back to new, although it did have some fluorescent blue scaring that marbled its carapace. Other than that, it was whole again.

"How many ships do we have moving towards our position, Hackett?"

"About forty-thousand ships are coming to you right now. In a minute or so, there are going to be about, quite literally, a million rounds of ammunition going down Harbinger's throat."

"Good."

"_Shepard, we can join forces: Reapers, humans, geth, qurians, turians, salarian, asari, volus, vorcha, elcor, and rachni. Together, we can conquer other galaxies. You have passed the test—have proven to us that organics are ready to join the ranks of us. We welcome you with open arms."_

"I can hear fear in your voice, Harbinger."

"_We are not so different, you and us. We are the guardians of the Milky Way. You have passed the final test. For that, you can join us, Shepard_."

"I didn't know Reapers knew how to lie. I guess whenever something, organic or machine, is pushed into a corner, they have to try and get out."

Tali noticed that the sun to their left had dimmed—a long, wicked shadow had been cast over the solar system. Tali pressed her face against the window and tens of thousands of ships swung around the planet, blocking out the sun's rays. She could see silhouettes of asari dreadnaughts, the Destiny Ascension, and her own ships that had mesmerized her through the porthole window on the Rayya during her years of youth.

"Quarain fleets reporting in, awaiting for the order to fire."

"Geth fleets have acquired target."

"Turian ships are ready for the green light."

"Human ships reporting, let's get this bastard."

"Asari fleet here with fingers on the trigger."

It went down the line until Admiral Hackett's voice chimed in.

"Commander, awaiting orders."

"_Shepard, please…"_

Tali noticed Harbinger spinning towards the fleet and it charged up all its main batteries, ready to unleash hell on the fleet.

"Shepard, give the order!" Tali watched Shepard's face and suddenly felt it too. She could see black wisps accumulating at the corners of her vision.

"Stand…st-st-stand down," he whispered.

_Harbinger is indoctrinating us._

The radio filled with chatter. Tali had enough of the damn Reapers and of their _shtupid_ mind tricks. She walked up to Shepard, wound back her hand and slapped him in the face.

"Snap out of it and save the galaxy already!"

Shepard's eyes went wide and he literally screamed into the communication channel: "Fire everything you have at it!"

Tali felt the Normandy shudder as Joker fired its thanix cannons right into Harbinger's center-of-mass. Hundreds of thousands of guns spat out millions of rounds of ammunition at Harbinger. It looked like an army of arc welder tips making a beeline right for the "indestructible" machine. The fleet fired another salvo of hot ammunition at Harbinger before the fist barrage even hit it. Harbinger though, wasn't going down without a fight. It used all of its onboard weapons to target the millions of warheads, mass accelerated tungsten slugs, atomic weapons, and missiles. It succeeds at getting a billionth of a fraction of a percent. The Normandy's thanix rounds tore through Harbinger from aft to stern. Its lights flickered but stayed alit. Suddenly, Harbinger realized its immanent defeat—a word Tali knew it didn't have in its dictionary. Every single round landed on target, followed by the second and third hundred-thousand rounds. Each salvo of ammunition hitting Harbinger had to weigh more that the Reaper flagship itself. Harbinger's six eyes on the holographic panel went out one by one until only one eye was still looking at them. It flickered.

"I know you feel this, Harbinger," Tali whispered into its communication channel before cutting it off. Harbinger squealed and its last eye shut off. It literally looked like a solid wall of white and blue melted metal cleaving into Harbinger, of who was engulfed in a white hot sphere of death. Red arcs of electricity sprouted from the crucible of heat and Harbinger's cries of pain seized.

"Seize fire everyone! We do not want any slugs to continue through our solar system. The tides of war have shifted," said Hackett. Tali could hear his crew cheering in the background.

"Did… did we do it? Is that it?" asked Kaiden.

Shepard turned around to face the crew, his pupils dilated from the horrific bombardment Harbinger just took.

"What are your orders, Commander?"

Shepard turned back around and placed two fists in the console. He exhaled.

"Clean up the rest of the Reapers. A single slug from a MAC cannon should take them out. Remember, they are still dangerous and lethal, be careful." He stopped talking for a second, and then continued. "Kill every last one of them and I want all the debris from the Reapers thrown into the nearest sun once we mop them up."

"Yes sir," responded Hackett. "Remember everyone; this is still a war zone. Be careful out there. Shepard, go get some rest. That is if you can talk Joker out of killing Reapers the rest of the night."

Shepard looked at Joker. The Normandy's pilot cracked his knuckles.

"Man, I am just getting started! You look like hell, though. Go to Chakwas."

"Medical attention is probably for the best, Shepard," encouraged EDI.

Shepard peered out the window as the white ball of light dissipated. As far as Tali could see, there was nothing left of Harbinger. Shepard turned to his crew.

"Well, we did it."

"Come on guys, give him a hand!"

Everyone followed Jack's order, even Miranda, and clapped for Shepard, even whistled.

"I couldn't have done it without you all."

"Hey, I was the one who killed Harby," Joker said over his shoulder. The crew clapped for him. "No hugs from Grunt, though, I don't want to be in a full body cast. Just leave me trophies, donations, and pictures you want autographed by the bed. I am famous now. Yeah, that's right."

"Come on Shepard, we need to get you to Chakwas." Tali snaked an arm around his waist and helped him to the medical bay.

"When I get better," started Shepard, "We will celebrate. This isn't over yet."

"I need to get guddamn shit faced after this event," muttered Zaeed as the elevator door hissed shut.

"Well?"

"Well what, Shepard?"

The two of them listened to the hum of the Normandy. Something was gone from the air that had been present for the past several years.

"Does it seem quiet to you?" asked Shepard.

Tali noticed the hum of bees were gone.

"It is over. We did it."

** Okay, just a couple more chapters must be written. Reviews and comments are welcome. Thanks VandalX187 for the edits, you are as much a bro as Garrus is to Shepard.**

**-RAGE**


	3. Chapter 3

_Tali stared out her living room window. An ocean breeze snuck through and drew its fingers through her hair. It smelled briny yet crisp. The sun was an emblazoned copper disk settling into the blankets—the waves of the ocean in preparation for bed. All was right in the galaxy._

Tali's eyes rolled in their sockets then fluttered open. The hum of the Normandy medical-bay was an all too familiar noise for her. The pillow under her head was uncomfortable and her neck ached, as did the rest of her battered body.

"Hey."

She felt a hand inside of hers of which was also familiar in shape and form.

_Her Captain._

"I am okay, I am okay," said Tali, sitting up. Shepard sat in a chair next to her bed. "How long?"

"About twelve hours."

"I feel embarrassed."

Shepard's face contorted and his brows furrowed: "About what?"

"_You _got hit by a Reaper beam and you are out of bed. I had a hole in my suit the size of a needle eye and _I _am the one in bed!"

"Well…"

"That is right, nothing to say." Tali noticed no one else was in the medical-bay. "Don't tell me I am the only one 'hurt.'"

"Everyone was in here at one point in time. Oh, we found Wrex, if you were concerned."

"Is he okay?"

"Is that really a question to be asking? It's… Wrex."

Tali chuckled then asked, "Are you okay?"

"All of my cybernetics and Doc's knowledge got me looking like new."

She scanned her Captain's face.

"You do look damn good… and handsome."

"Thanks. You look, well…" Shepard reached under his seat and pulled out her picture. "I bet you look the same but with a pouty frown on your face. Tali'Zorah vas Medical Bed."

"It is Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch, now."

"What happened to 'Normandy'?"

"Tell me, do you _really _want to live on this ship for the rest of your life?"

Shepard peered around then said, "No, not really. I like, but not _that _much."

Tali grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, whispering, "Come with me."

"To where?" he asked playfully.

Giggling, Tali whispered, "Home."

"And where is that?" A big goofy grin was smeared over his face that had healed up fairly well. The word on Tali's tongue had a tantalizing taste to it. It made her stomach quiver with unadulterated excitement. Shepard helped her, mouthing the word _Rannoch._

"_Rannoch._"

"I was just waiting for the invitation, my dear."

"Oh? Did you really think I wouldn't invite you?"

Shepard slid onto the bed, straddling her waist playfully and grabbed her hands.

"Not sure," he said with a grin.

"It is only polite I invite my _boyfriend _on a planet he _gave_ his girlfriend."

"_Heh_."

"Best gift _ever._"

"Tali?"

"_Uh-hu_?"

"Look at your finger."

"Oh?"

Tali peered at her hand and saw a platinum ring slipped sneakily by Shepard below her knuckle.

Her heart stopped.

"Will you?" asked Shepard.

"I…Keel-_Keelah_, but…I just, uh…"

"A nod _yes _or _no _will do just fine."

Tali's head shook up and down, then she released a squeal. She was very familiar with the human ritual of marriage and knew what the symbolism of a ring meant. Finally, it hit her—the victory of the war _accelerated _right into her heart. Seeing Harbinger's glorious explosion wasn't _nearly _as exhilarating as seeing a ring hugging her finger.

"Keelah, yes I do. Yes yes _yes!_"

The door to their right opened and Chakwas burst in.

"Tali, are you okay? I heard screaming!"

"Are you kidding me? Okay? I am _way _more than okay!"

Chakwas put a hand over her chest, relieved then caught glimpse of the ring on her finger.

"Shepard, you didn't!"

"Oh, he did," said Tali.

"Chakwas, keep this quiet," said Shepard.

The intercom erupted to life: "Commander, you are a sneaky bastard."

"Joker!" yelled Shepard to the ceiling, "Keep that mouth shut and turn off that damn camera!"

"I like watching you sleep."

"Joker…"

"Roger, Commander."

Shepard sighed. "So much for the word 'discreet.'"

Shepard slid off the bed. "Are you able to walk, Tali?"

"I just have a minor infection and am not crippled."

"I was referring to the shock."

Tali brushed his hand away and hopped off the table. Her head was splitting. "I am perfectly okay. By the way, where is Anderson?"

"He went to a medical ship and should have gotten out of surgery a while ago."

"So he is okay?"

Shepard said, "Yes, he is fine."

Tali noticed Shepard was dressed in his finest blues with a mural of medals pinned to his chest. He noticed Tali's curiosity and said, "The press is coming aboard, along with Admiral Hackett and the leaders of all the races. I even think the Counsel is coming over here. They want to go over some things with us."

"How is the war going? I mean, the Reapers?"

Chakwas scanned Tali with her omni-tool and took some data. She didn't care about anything other than Shepard at the moment, though she slapped his shoulder with a grin on her face mouthing _sneaky bastard._

"We've killed everything in this system so far and are wiping up the last of the ground resistance. The Catalyst took out most of the Reaper ground forces from the blast, although there are some stragglers. As for the other systems, the Reapers are fleeing and it seems they are going to be fighting a guerilla war until they are all dead."

"So, we are still going to lose people?" asked Chakwas.

"Unfortunately yes, but we have the victory, it is just a matter of clean up. It is a war of attrition as of now. Most military vessels have left Sol and have gone back to theirs to set up a defensive perimeter around their home worlds, then should spread out and systematically eliminate the rest of the Reapers." Shepard noticed concern in both Tali and Chakwas. "Think of it this way: the galaxy was in more danger before the Reapers arrived with the pirates, raiders, gangs, and such. They are running and do not want to fight us. There is no way they can get a light-year close to Rannoch, Tali, or they will be blasted before they even know we were even in their vicinity. Without their shields and barriers, they are like tin-foil ships in space."

Tali felt better when Shepard explained it like that. She trusts him with her life and knows he would never lie to her. Everything had gone better than expected in the end.

"Commander, the Admirals should be here in half an hour. I would get your game face on. Joker out."

"Half an hour?" asked Tali, almost screaming the question. "Are you ready for them?"

"I am, not you, though."

"Me?"

"Yes, I would like you by my side, Tali."

"I… _oh._ I should probably change out parts of my suit."

"You look… kind of melted."

Chakwas looked at Tali, then to Shepard. Her blank stare twisted to embarrassment: "Oh, how thick of me. I should leave, then."

"Thanks, Chakwas."

"Not a problem, dear."

Chakwas walked towards the door when Tali said, "Maybe, one day, when we can live without our suits, we can invite you over for dinner or something."

Turning around, the Doc smiled. "I'd like that, Tali. I can bring the brandy."

"Sounds like a deal, even though I'd keel over dead if I had some."

"The med-bay is basically a clean room and I know you are becoming more immune to… well, stuff, so you can take off parts of your suit if you wish." Chakwas pressed a button and the windows tinted to black so no one could see in.

Shepard helped Tali replace parts of her suit, discarding sections of her armor, replacing it for her usual purple swirly cloth than hugged her voluptuous body.

"Tali, I have a surprise for you," said Shepard while helping her with her suit.

"Save it for later." Tali stared at her ring. "Too much of something amazing spoils the _amazing _factor."

"That sounds fair although I wasn't planning on telling you for a while."

"Oh you."

"Seriously though, what do you think about, you know." Shepard pointed at the ring.

"When I find the words to express myself, I will let you know. All I can do now is bounce on my toes."

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Tali. Do you remember what the fortune teller told us on Terra Nova?"

"_Hair full of gray, wife's hand in hand, watching the sun go down. He will parish of old age, nothing more, nothing less. Peacefully with Tali'Zorah_," she recited.

"Let's get ready for this meeting, Tali."

The outside of the medical bay was empty, except for both Tali and Shepard. Tali's heart pounded as they walked toward the elevator, for she knew the eyes of the galaxy would be honed in on them, well hopefully only Shepard—Tali isn't too good in front of a camera and for something that will exist in throughout time and be seen by billions of people—maybe even studied by history classes hundreds of years from now, it was important they act professional, stoic, and true. The elevator opened and both walked inside of it. Tali let go of Shepard's hand.

"Are you ready for this, Tali?"

"Nope."

"Well, when are we ever ready for anything?"

"Occasionally, we are. It is just my nerves."

The door shut.

"It is game time."

The elevator rose towards the CIC of the Normandy and then stuttered to a stop. Both doors opened and the Normandy crew circled the galaxy map, holding a casual conversation before the brass came aboard. Half of the crew turned and gave them a respectable nod.

"Listen up everyone, I want you all to be at the top of your game," started Shepard. "What we have achieved was a pivotal turning point in the galaxy's history that will be remembered, recorded, and scrutinized for the rest of time. Be on your best behavior. That is all."

"Commander, a boarding party is inbound. ETA three minutes," said Joker over the intercom.

"All right everyone, I want you all lined up around the galaxy map in no particular order. I want everyone to see our crew doesn't separate itself based on race. The spotlight of the galaxy is trained on us, remember that. We are a united force."

Garrus walked next to Shepard and Tali.

"I just thought I should be standing by your sides," said Garrus. In a low, cautious voice, Garrus continued, "I hope I am going to be your best man, Shepard." He looked to Tali's ring.

"Keep it down, Vakarian," said Shepard. "Yes, you will, by the way," he hissed ferociously.

"Good. I don't want to see Wrex up there."

"You are my best friend, Garrus."

"That is good to hear, Commander." Tali's turian friend, who was dressed in formal turian military ware, took a spot next to the Commander. Tali looked around the room, noticing everyone was on board. Liara, Kaiden, Wrex, Jack, Grunt, Miranda, Vega, Javik, Kasumi, Zaeed, Samara, Jacob, Adams, Donnelly, Gabby, everyone they have fought with in the past that still stood were back, on the Normandy, their home.

"Commander, they are all here. Letting them board." Joker pressed a button and Tali could see him stand from his seat, with the assistance of EDI.

Tali poked out around Garrus' chest, desperately checking to see who was coming aboard—more importantly, checking to see if Admiral Raan made it through unscathed. To her utter surprise, Andserson was the first to be wheeled aboard, pushed by Admiral Hackett in a wheelchair, followed by Primarch Victus, Admiral Raan, Koris, the Council, and others of importance. The diplomatic and military power of the galaxy was all aboard the Normandy. Tali thought that Harbinger would have loved this situation twelve hours ago. One hit to the Normandy would have spun the war into even more chaos. Shepard saluted Hackett, followed by the rest of his crew; even Tali tapped her two fingers to her tinted veil out of sheer respect. The amount of powerful people on board the Normandy made her feel important. Never in her life has she really like being under the scrutinizing noses of the public, but right now, she felt like a goddamn hero. She loved every minute of it. As the rest of the diplomats cleared out of the decontamination room, a familiar face came through—two in fact: Emily Wong and Gianna Parasini. Tali couldn't help but grin when she saw Gianna. She always really liked her and their history on Illium, their shared experience kicking that checkered ball around on the beach was still fresh in her memory.

"Commnder Shepard, we would not be standing before you if it wasn't for your brave actions," started Hackett, reaching out an extended hand. Shepard firmly shook it and Tali noticed a camera hovering over Wong's shoulder. Tali balled up her fist, hiding the engagement ring for the camera's lens. That news would make it all over those sappy magazines Kasumi liked to read. Tali could see it now: _Commander Shepard proposes to a quarian. Tali'Zorah: the luckiest girl in the galaxy? Does Commander Shepard deserve a quarian as a wife? See page 15 for more details!_

"Thanking just me is an insult. Thank Garrus Vakarian, the most loyal friend I have ever had." Shepard pointed to Garrus and Hackett extended his friend. "We also have Doctor Liara T'Soni. She is the one who found out about the Crucible and has been fighting by my side since the word "Reaper" was discovered. Major Kaiden Alenko. Once you gain his trust, he never forgets. I owe my life to him many times over. We also have Javik of who is a prothean." Everyone stared at him, slapped in the face by the sudden realization. Tali could sense he wanted to call them all _primitives_ but held his acid tongue."That story is for another day, though." The crows chuckled, nervously. Shepard went down the line.

"Urdnot Wrex, my friend who has been with me for the longest time. He reunited the krogans and helped cure the genophage. His name will go down in history as will his loyalty and unwavering resistance to fear. Kasumi Goto. Never have I met someone who has my back quite like her. She stands strong even when she has lost the most important… thing in life and is also a leader on the Crucible project. Jack over here and her biotic abilities saved the lives of hundreds during the hottest parts of the war. Zaeed Massani is a man who loves a good fight, drinks drain cleaner, then goes out and tries to rifle butt a Reaper in the face—and succeeds. Miranda Lawson helped us track down the Illusive Man's base and helped in the war effort against the Collectors and Reapers. Without her, I don't know where we would be. James Vega, who is going to be one mean SOB in the N7 program, is not going to settle down after today, so the Reapers are going to have something to fear tomorrow. Urdnot Grunt spits in the face of death and defies everything thrown at him. Without him, we would all be lost. Samara over here is a Justicar who helped against the Reapers and follows the Code syllable by syllable. Her loyalty goes beyond the code and ultimately comes down to friendship. Jacob also helped in the Collector attack and kept our crew intact with his sane personality and honest, upfront style. He has my back no matter what. And for my crew, here they are." His hand whipped towards his engineers. "Gabby, Ken, and Adams are our comedic relief. Laughing does a hell of a lot more when compared to bullets. I want to point out Joker, the Normandy's pilot, who has to be the first Reaper ace and EDI, our ship's Artificial Intelligence… and friend. Don't forget the ones we have lost. Dr. Mordin Solus was the one who was able to cure the genophage and gave his life doing so. Legion, our geth friend, was the one who also gave _his _life to keep peace between the geth and quarians. Don't forget Thane Krios, the dangerous shadow whose loyalty and friendship towards me and my companions saved not only my crew, but a Council member. Do not forget the ones we have lost during this war, for they are the ones who kept us alive." Shepard took a breath. "Finally, this is Tali'Zorah vas _Rannoch_." Shepard's hand slipped into hers. Tali's face bloomed with flame. "I owe my life to her and _everyone _here does the same. To be honest, Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah are the heroes we need to recognize. Without them, the Reapers would have killed every single last one of us."

"Commander, I didn't mean to insult you," said Hackett, humbled. "Everyone, I think this crew deserves a round of applause."

The crew all clapped and even though Tali couldn't hear it, she could _feel _the galactic society applauding on their behalf-billions of hands colliding over and over again. It was a silent thunder rolling through the dark.

"It is true," started Anderson. His voice was weak but Tali knew he wouldn't miss this even for anything in the galaxy. "Tali and Garrus are the heroes of today."

Tali reveled in the compliments given to her by everyone. The brass handed out medals, gave handshakes to the crew, exchanged words, and shared salutes. Tali weaved through the crowds of people, meeting new and old faces.

"Tali?"

She turned around to meet Gianna.

"Gianna! I saw you enter, how did get a ticket to come aboard?"

"I talked to Shepard. He let me come and I know Emily Wong."

"Well, it is good to see you."

"Did he really ask you?" questioned Gianna.

"Huh?"

"Un-ball your fist, Tali."

"Oh, _that._ I take it your saw the ring?"

"Well, it isn't very subtle, Tali."

"Well… I thought we should keep it low key."

"Okay, that is fine," said Gianna, placing a hand on her hip.

"Are you sticking around after the brass leaves?"

"Is that an invitation, Tali?"

"I think there are celebrations that will happen onboard here."

"I am up it."

Tali's eyes sparkled and stared over Gianna's shoulder at Admiral Raan.

"Hey, Gianna, I will catch up with you later."

"Yeah, okay."

The mood in Normandy was electric—everyone was high from the fumes of victory. Tali has always loved the mood in the Normandy yet despised it at the same time. It was more of the waiting game _feel_ that she hated than anything else. There are so many memories from the Normandy, both horrific and beautiful, that have been scorched and messaged into the armored walls of this damn brilliant ship. She was going to miss it. It had basically become her home over the past years and is where she had fallen for the best thing ever to appear into her life: Commander Shepard.

"Tali, my dear, I have been waiting to see you," said Aunt Raan to Tali.

"Auntie Raan."

Both embraced in a hug.

"Our shots landed on Harbinger first," she told Tali. "We got a little itchy on the triggers out there. Sorry if your ship captain noticed or got angry."

"We didn't notice a thing. Keelah, I am so happy you made it out alive."

"Same goes for you, Tali. Your father… your mother would be proud of your actions."

"I hope they would."

"Of course they would, Tali. Rumor has it that you killed the Illusive Man. Is that right?"

"I landed an ambulance on him."

"Keelah, Tali," she gasped. "Way to go."

"Any news from Rannoch?" asked Tali.

"The geth have begun construction on housing for the quarian population. Many of our old structures still stand, but there is lots of work to be done. I heard an asari architect has been hired for some special project."

"Huh, interesting."

"Anyways, there is a network where you can upload updates into your suit that will help our immune system. Within a couple of years, we can walk around without our suits. Tali, can you _believe _that? There should be no need of our suits within our lifetime."

Tali clearly remember what the air feels like against her skin and _needs_ to feel that sensation more often. Sparks of excitement swelled in her stomach and pushed against the walls of her organs, threatening to pop her like a balloon sapped in joy.

Admiral Rann pointed at Tali's finger—more importantly the ring and viciously asked, "What's _that_?"

"Tali?"

To Tali's relief, Anderson's voice shattered the awkwardness between Tali's aunt and herself.

"Anderson, how is the bullet wound?"

Tali stared down at Anderson who was in his wheelchair. She kneeled to be face level with him.

"Actually, not that bad as it went in and out, along with the miracles of modern medical science. I literally had to sneak out of the hospital and past the nurses. A covert operation, I'd say. Admiral Raan, how is your fleet?"

"Oh, we took damage but killed a lot more Reapers than they did us."

"You can thank your nephew for that. I have never seen more ballsy flying than what Tali did."

"She takes after her father."

"I see. Well, Tali, we as a galactic whole are in your debt."

"Are you two staying after hours?"

"Tali, I really need to get back to the fleet."

"Understandable, Auntie Raan. Anderson, are you staying?"

"I'd love to, but I think if I stay for a few drinks, it will leak through the hole in my gut."

"That… is gross."

"That is what I am here for."

The brass on the CIC began to thin as hours pass by and Tali noticed some of the old Normandy crew disappearing. Where they went, she didn't really know. Tali walked up behind Shepard of who was talking to the Council, whispered that she was heading for the bar, and walked into the elevator to the crew quarters. All the people who were once on the CIC had left. Now, there was a bunch of gray haired humans who sound monotone and spoke politics of which Tali could care less about. The bar called to Tali—a gyrating light calling her home like a lost ship at sea. As the door opened to the bar, Tali noticed most of the crew that had been missing up in the CIC had taken shelter in Kasumi's old room. Zaeed and Wrex were at the bar with Jack mixing drinks for them.

"Tali, welcome to the guddamn party!"

Zaeed spun around on his chair and raised a cup to Tali.

"Little quarian, come join us," requested Wrex. Tali reluctantly pulled a seat up.

"I was just telling Wrex over 'ere about my war stories. Care to listen in, you might learn something, little quarian."

The mercenary threw a shot back into his head and hissed. Tali now understood why they did such a thing after taking a shot-the hiss felt good.

"Tali, long time no see."

"Jack, it has indeed been a while. Mix me a turian brandy," said Tali.

"Oh-ho! Big girl over here. You've changed since I last saw you," said Zaeed, quickly becoming inebriated.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I arm wrestled Tali back on the SR1, Zaeed?"

Tali listened to Wrex and Zaeed interact. They became quick friends fast, which was odd. She would have thought Zaeed might have spilled some stories of him killing krogans for sport. She imagined Wrex throwing Zaeed out the airlock all the while Zaeed is saying _this takes me back _while floating away.

"No," said Zaeed.

"Well, Alenko put 100 credits on Tali to win this bet, but Tali being a quarian, she found a way around this. Sneaky little space rats."

"Hey!"

Wrex grinned.

"Anyways, Tali couldn't even beat me with both of her arms. It took Garrus' help to win and by them, it just didn't count."

"We had some good times on the SR1," said Tali, grabbing her drink from Jack.

"That isn't going to kill you, is it, Tali?"

"No Jack, I should be fine."

"Okay, I just don't want to be blamed when you are convulsing on the floor and foaming at the mouth, then Shepard walks in. I'd be dead. Killing his girlfriend isn't the smartest thing to do."

Tali put a hand in her lap, concealing the ring.

"Yeah, girlfriend…"

Tali set up her straw and linked it to her mask. Jack, Zaeed, and Wrex both cautiously stared at her.

"_Trust me _I will be fine, guys."

The door behind them hissed open and many voices, all of which Tali knew, spilled into the room. The rest of the Normandy crew that were still alive, walked in, following Shepard's wake, including EDI and Joker.

"I finally escaped from the brass and politicians," said Shepard, unbuttoning the collar to his blues. "Before we break out the alcohol, I need to get something off my chest." Tali spun around in her chair and listened, keen on hearing what Shepard had to say.

"This war has taken the lives of many and will continue to do so for several months to a couple of years. This war... it is not yet over." The door behind them closed and Tali could see everyone from the past Normandy tours were here, plus a few extra faces, Gianna Parasini and Emily Wong included. They were past friends and deserve to be here. They will be the writing momentum-well maybe not Gianna, but Emily Wong-for the war to come.

Shepard continued: "The Normandy is well equipped and I have made the decision to continue fighting the Reapers on the front line until it is safe enough for us to be called off. Now, to the tough part. I know a lot of you have plan of your own-futures you want to live out, and I understand that." Tali scanned the room and noticed eagerness etched into everyone's faces waiting to hear Shepard's punch line and Tali had a sneaking suspicion as to what he was going to say.

"The Normandy will still be in service until it is called off by the Alliance, which means I will still be the Commander. I extend a hand to all of you who wish to join, rejoin, or to stay on this crew to finish the fight against the Reapers. This should be a simple mopping of the galaxy but to a lot of you, I know this ship is home to you and I will keep its doors open. You are all welcome at any time. Now, here is the big question: who wants to join me in finishing the Reapers? I know not all of you will rejoin and I want to let you know that your choice is for the best."

Tali stood up from the chair and Garrus walked right next to her.

"We are coming with you, Commander," said Garrus.

"Shepard, I would love to rejoin, but Tuchanka needs me. Grunt, on the other hand, will be joining you," said Wrex. Grunt chuckled and Shepard nodded.

"That is understandable, Wrex. Your planet needs you."

"Commander, I won't let you go out into the galaxy and become a big _guddamn _hero without me," sputtered Zaeed. The mercenary stood up and drank a shot and slammed his cup on the counter. "Count me in."

"I noticed you need a cook, Shepard," started Kasumi. "I can cook you all stuff if need be, so I am in."

"Commander, if it is okay with you, I need to talk with Oriana first to see if I can join. I do want to join, but I want my sister's permission."

"That is okay, Miranda."

"Thanks, Commander."

"You already know my answer, Commander," said Dr. Chakwas. "And Jeff said he is staying with the Normandy until it is retired, same with EDI."

"Thanks for speaking for me, Doc," snapped Joker, who limped to the couch.

"It is what I do, Jeff."

Joker brought his hat lower on his face and frowned.

The rest of the crew followed, every damn last one of them were here to finish the fight with their surrogate family, and in some of their cases, their real family. Tali's blood coursed through this ship-her DNA flowed with the coolant, the lubricants, and the beating heart of the ship that was Commander Shepard.

The room all stood, including Joker, at the attention of their commander in preparation to take orders from him.

"I see in all of your faces the eagerness I was used to seeing all those years ago, though right now, every single one of need to line up at the bar and get a drink, that's an order. Those worried creases in your faces need to be put at ease with the help of alcohol," barked Shepard. "We have a busy day tomorrow, so if you do not want a hangover, feel free to retire to your bunks or play a game of poker."

The crowd in the room detonated with an applause and was quickly chased out by friendly conversation, war stories, Vega giving out new nicknames, and Reaper kill counts.

"Come pull on up 'uh chair, Shepard," sputtered Zaeed. "Come sit at the big boy table with us-let all 'da little kiddies play pokuh' 'nd sit around talkin'. We've got some drinkin' to do, 'ey?"

"Jack, give me whatever Wrex is drinking," sighed Shepard, plopping himself on the last free bar stool.

"Are you sure about that, Commander?" asked Wrex, his baritone voice reverberating deep in Tali's chest. She swore she could see ripples in Zaeed's drink that quickly disappeared into his mouth.

"I want to be knocked on my ass tonight," said Shepard.

"I thought Tali usually does that for you," said Wrex.

Tali punched her krogan brother with in the chest.

"That is none of your business, Wrex!" she laughed. "It's true, though," she whispered, rolling her eyes.

Jack, Zaeed, Wrex, and Shepard howled, the alcohol clearly getting to their heads. Tali could feel it hitting her hard as well. She was a cheap date.

"Garrus, come join us," said Shepard with a wave of his hand, unbuttoning his Alliance coat and throwing it over the back of his chair.

"Hmmm, I could smell quarian on you right before out final push, Commander," said Wrex. "It has been a long time since I have smelled that scent. It took me about ten seconds to figure out what the hell I was smelling."

"Wot do 'dey smell like, Wrex?" asked Zaeed, his lips glistening with either alcohol of saliva, Tali could not tell.

Wrex thought for a moment then grumbled, "Cinnamon."

"I wasn't going to say anything because I thought I was going crazy, but Tali, you do smell like cinnamon."

Tali shrugged after taking a sip of booze and asked, "What in the hell is cinnamon?"

Her vision blurred as she stared at Shepard.

These side effects were all too familiar.

"_Uhg_, I feel _woozy_," she grumbled.

"Good, then it will soften the blow, Tali," said Garrus walking over.

"What blow?"

"I got more kills that you. I win the competition."

Tali felt a strong sense of vertigo like she was freefalling backwards off her chair. The vertigo must be reconstituted as rage.

"By how _uhmm_... much did you win by?" she asked.

"By. One. Kill."

"Nah nah nah _nah_! That means we tied," she sputtered, the alcohol slamming her with torrents of raging confusion. "I killed _urrrrrp_."

"You killed _what_?" asked Garrus, profoundly perplexed.

"I'm _soooorry_, before I was _rudely_ interrupted by that burp, I was going to say I killed the Illusive Man, that means we are tied."

Garrus slammed a fist on the countertop and yelled, "Damn it! I forgot about that!"

Tali tried to twist her fingers into an _L _shape on her forehead.

"Loser. Garrus Vakarian is a big bosh'tet of a loser. Shotgun wins."

"Shotgun always wins," said Wrex and Jack at the same time.

"Yeah, I see what is going on here. I am outnumbered by shotgun fanatics. Damn both of you, Jack and Wrex. My you rot in hell with snipers shooting at you for eternity."

"That sounds like heaven to me," said Wrex.

"I prefer to use my assault rifle, Jesse. Dat 'ol bitch has killed more things that all of your shitty close range spray 'nd pray weapons combined." Zaeed poked his finger into Tali's chest. "I bet 'ol Jesse has killed more... _things _with her rifle butt'dan your shotgun and let me tell you, she has _one fine ass._ Jack, anotha'!"

Zaeed picked up an imaginary shot glass offered it to Jack who kindly poured it onto his actual shot glass that was nowhere close to his hand.

"I lost Jesse in 'da war, though. Those _guddamn _Reapers jumped me. I had to leave 'er behind."

Tali caught a savage glimpse of sadness in Zaeed's eye as a single tear rolled down his cheek. Tali heard somewhere that alcohol has a tendency to bring our your true self and at this very priceless moment, Tali realized behind the tattoos, the weird accent, and the scars, Zaeed was in fact a big softy-an armor plated bear filled with cotton balls on the inside. This war has taken may lives, but for Zaeed, his big loss was of his weapon, Jessie.

"I say we toast to Jessie," shouted Tali, grabbing her safety glass. "To the fallen firearms that have saved and taken the lives of many."

"_Here here,_" they all chanted at the bar, ignoring what the rest of the crew was doing behind them.

"Now Jack," said Tali, staggering to her feet off the stool. Shepard's arm braced her from falling backwards. "Show me how to make drinks."

"I'll let you all in on a secret about me," said Jack, stepping aside for Tali. "I was a bartender for about a month when I was younger. For a short while, I said fuck it, I am going to bend my life back into a coherent path instead of having all this squiggly shit going on."

"_Squiggly_," repeated inebriated Tali, finding enjoyment in the funny sounding word.

Ignoring Tali, Jack continued: "It worked out for about a month and I was good at it."

"But something happened," said Garrus, crossing his arms.

"Yeah."

"Let me guess," he said, "Oh... was it a bar fight?"

"Some drunk Marine grabbed me, so I yanked him on the bar and smashed his head in with a vodka bottle, putting his stupid ass into a coma. Got fired on the spot by my boss so I punched him out too."

"That sounds like my little Jacqueline," said Garrus, mildly amused at Tali fumbling with the ice cube tong.

"I can punch you out too, princess."

"How 'bout we all just... make love, not war," mumbled Zaeed as he stared into his imaginary glass.

Everyone glared at him, bewildered and unable to speak.

_Impossible _thought Tali.

"Am I really drunk, or did Zaeed just say something warm and fuzzy?" asked Tali, going cross-eyed while trying to focus in on Zaeed.

"Nope, he said something warm and fuzzy," reconfirmed Shepard, mouth parted and eyes blank.

"Oh, you're just so _adorable _when drunk, Zaeed," said Tali, reaching over and pinching his cheek.

"The commander is thinking the same for you, Tali," stated Garrus.

"I _know _he is. I just _know _it. Now Jack, how do you do that flipping thing with the thing where the ice goes?"

A glass under the counter that held a bunch of pretty colors caught Tali's barely functioning eyes.

"What are these?" she squeaked, blindly groping for the cup.

"You put those in fruity drinks that are made for pansies," said Jack. "They are umbrellas."

Jack pinched one in her fingers and opened the paper umbrella.

"So it is a... solar shielding apparatus for your drink?" Tali asked.

"Yes."

"Why do you need _that_? It's not like your fruity drink is going to get skin cancer."

Tali noticed Shepard's hand go to his face, embarrassed, and that was the very last thing Tali remembers except for falling backwards and hitting her head on a cabinet.

Then black.

Blue light percolated from under Tali's eyelids and the subtle hum of her baby, the Normandy, whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

"Keelah, my skull," she whispered, her throat counterattacking her voice with dry, brittle assaults.

"Good morning, Tali."

Tali was swaddled in blankets, head pressed deeply into pillows as her hangover pounded a slow, continuous beat against the back of her eyes. The dull throbbing pain was soon washed away by the pure and untainted sudden rush of _we... we finally did it. _

"How's the head?" came the familiar voice of commander Shepard from somewhere in the darkened captain's quarters.

"Feels like I was kicked by a varren."

Tali peeled her eyes open, her lids fighting a crusty film that sealed them shut. She guessed she cried in her sleep after hitting her head. On the black leather couch, Tali traced the outline of Shepard looking over a data pad, the orange glow permeating his now smiling face-filling the voids under his eyes and creases folded into his once desperate face. Sure his fresh wounds were stitched into his skin and his bruises were like purple ink smeared on his face but Keelah, he looked a million _trillion_ times better than before. It was a smile that she has never seen on him before, and hoped to see again.

"Do you want to see something cool?" asked the outline-the new Shepard.

"Well, yeah," she whispered.

Shepard crawled on the bed and laid on his side, flinching, then getting comfortable with Tali.

"So, what do you think?" he asked, pushing the data pad under her chin. On screen was a 3D rendering of a building-a mansion by the looks of it. It's architecture was heavily quarian influenced, subtly laced with asari grace which looked out over an sandy patch of coastline where the tan sand disappeared into the sapphire waters of an ocean.

"It's big, whatever it is."

Shepard grinned and grabbed Tali's hand, playing with the wedding ring.

It suddenly hit her.

"You bosh'tet!" she tried screaming, but only a whistle escaped her sore throat. "We are living in that? That is our house-our home? How much was it? We could fit fifty quarian families in there! Keelah I hate you-Keelah I love you!" she whistled, punching him in the arm.

"Don't worry about any of that, Tali. I set up an asari architect to build the house and you must remember, your kind has a home to live on. Seventeen million quarians is not a lot of people, so I thought it would just be a waste of land if we didn't build something of a nice size. By the way, it is only four-thousand square feet."

"_Only Four-thousand?_ We can lose each other in there!"

"Calm down there."

"I..." she sighed. "You get me a home world and now a house. How can I repay you?"

"Just... grow old with me."

"I can do that," she purred.

Shepard leaned back on the pillow while Tali rested her head on his arm.

"We are a five minute drive from the city, as the Normandy flies and we have a private beach and guess who is going to be our neighbor?" asked Shepard.

Tali leaned over to look him in the face and asked, "Who?"

"I was talking to Garrus and he wants to settle down on Rannoch as well. I think he has a thing for quarians after talking to him while drunk last night."

"I thought he has family on Palaven?"

"He does, but he doesn't want to go back to Palaven since it is destroyed-too many painful memories. Besides, us three are family, so he will be close to us at least."

Tali sighed, relinquishing the last of her stress. The cleanup of the Reapers is going to be a piece of cake and she was not worried in the least. The war was over and the ending came out to be good. They all made it out alive.

"I still need to make up for all that you have done for me," sighed Tali.

"Well there is one thing..."

Tali turned and eagerly looked up into Shepard's face.

"Go on..."

"We have three hours until we need to be in the CIC."

"Oh?" exclaimed Tali, poking Shepard on the nose. "Let's make that time totally worth it..."

_Two years later._

A breeze danced a tango with the white curtains behind Tali's chair. Her sunglasses were pressed into her face as the morning sun painted her skin red. It was soft to the touch-gentle and considerate. Tali had been woken by the palm's dry rustle as Mother Nature ran her fingers through the long, thick leaves. Tali had fallen asleep reading the thriller, _Deception_, which was based on the true story of a human and his quarian family being hunted by a Spectre and C-Sec on the Citadel back in 2170. It was a great read.

Tali stretched and blew a black wisp of hair out of her face as she greeted Rannoch on the back porch of her home. The ocean was calm and polished like a mirror. Traces of sand were felt between her toes and under her bra strap of her two piece swimsuit.

"Good morning, sweetie."

"Don't sneak up on me like that, _Commander._"

Tali looked up and gave Shepard a quick peck on the lips, kissing him upside down.

"You taste like coffee," she said.

Shepard held up his mug and grinned.

"You should really wear sunscreen," said Shepard, pulling a patio chair up next to Tali. "I don't want you burning up."

"After a year of living here and waking up to the morning sun, I think I am doing okay."

Tali grabbed his hand, able to feel his skin and warmth. It was much like the sun-gentle and soft. Shepard pulled a loose strand of jet-black hair behind her ear, wanting to see her face clearly.

"I got lucky with you, Mrs. Shepard."

"I think the same thing." Tali sat up. "Do you know how many women _desire _you? Do you know how many women probably hate my guts?"

"Billions."

"That's right, _billions_. I've seen your face show up in I don't know how many magazines."

"My face is not the important one, Tali," he said, putting a finger under her chin. Tali bit her lip and looked down, bashful of his compliments. Even after all these years, she still has not gotten used to his compliments.

"Anyways, we should hop in the shower and get groceries for the reunion tomorrow. Are you going to... you know, wear the mask when everyone shows up, Tali?" asked Shepard. "The old crew has not seen your face in person yet."

"The mask will be off."

"I think a purple dress would look nice on you," he said, pinching her bare, supple thigh.

"I am dressing casual."

"You're not wearing your two piece bikini now," he joked, staring at her, losing himself in her beauty.

"I think a nice purple top with jeans will do."

Shepard nodded and said, "I like jeans on you. Hair pulled back or loose and _al natural_?"

She loved talking appearance with Shepard. He realized she _loved_ it.

"Loose," she giggled.

"I love your natural wavy hair. I think it'll be perfect," he said, pushing a purple Rannoch flower behind her ear.

"You're too much, Shepard."

"Let's get ready. Garrus and Lia'Vael... I mean Lia'Vakarian should be showing up on our doorstep in an hour. They are coming with us."

"Just don't let Garrus cook. Last weekend was a nightmare. How does one burn water?" asked Tali.

"Only Garrus can do that."

She chuckled as Shepard walked back inside. She brushed a bit of sand off her bellybutton and placed a bookmark on the novel she was reading. The reunion with everyone was going to be exciting and she was glad that everyone was staying in touch after they eradicated every last Reaper in the galaxy. Almost everyone in the crew had a growing family and they all brought them to the reunion. Tali sighed and closed her eyes, picturing everyone who served on the Normandy.

They have survived the volley of Reaper conceits, political egotism, and achieved a crude victory. Shepard's crew was unstoppable when the Reapers were mighty-unbeatable and took the form of invincibility to many, including herself, yet Shepard stood strong and relentlessly threw himself at the enemy without pressing on the issue that he could take a stray bullet to the skull in any one of his fights. He fought not for himself, but for others around him that he knew and did not know. Commander Shepard carries all the traits of an altruist, yet philosophers say one cannot achieve such a privileged status. Tali looked down at the ring laced around her slender finger and for once, actually agreed with these philosophers. Shepard is the closest thing to an altruist, yet this ring denied that from him. This vow, this promise proved he was human for this is the one thing in his life that he has done not only for Tali, but for himself. This was the one course of action that the repercussions did not matter to him; for once, he came to a fork in his road of fate and he did not even have to stop and think about which path he should venture. The final destination of the road he chose lay happiness. The rest of the known galaxy will tell stories about Commander Shepard to their children, that generation will then spread the tales of the galaxy's Shepard to their children until his heroic and already smooth image is polished into myth, and is seen as the altruistic futurist.

**Surprise! I hope you all enjoyed this one now that I **_**finally**_** finished it. I feel this was a hurdle for me to get over after hearing of/playing the extended ending and I just had to get this over with. I wrote half of this chapter back in March and I couldn't finish it. It being three in the morning and I just finished "editing" it, I am sorry for the mistakes. So, you ask me about future fanfic? Yes, there will be more and I am currently 60,000 words into my new story called **_**The Aurora Prophecy**_** which follows the events of **_**Deception**_**. I know not many of you have read **_**Deception**_**, but I urge you to give it a shot since I know you will love this next one I am writing (and it will include lots of art work!). It is ambitious and I sometimes tell myself, "What in the hell are you doing, man?" **

**Again, if anyone out there still reads Mass Effect fanfic, and this one in particular after BioWare's writing team (or just rumored Mac Walters and Casey Hudson) eviscerated Mass Effect 3, then you have my utmost respect. I love you all and I enjoy hearing your opinions on this one! Feel free to ask about my next story to. It is going to be big in both scope and word count! **

**-FsDxRAGE **

**P.S. - I am always a jolly fellow and not angry at anything! **


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